Total Drama ISLE
by Sendokai.Zak
Summary: In another reality, that particular inter would have kept his mouth closed, Total Drama Island would have aired with the original cast of twenty-two campers, and he would have went on with his career forever pondering on what could have changed, whether for better or worst, had he decided to speak up that night. This was not that reality.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama, nor its Spin-Off series, The Ridonculous Race, shows which have aired in Cartoon Network in the United States, Latin America and other numerous countries besides Canada, airing instead in Teletoon. The legitimate creators of the show are Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch.

The Total Drama series is a show that I love immensely, so much so, that I decided to mix it with another thing that I love even more so: Writing, and so this AU story was conceived in my mind, and know I want to share it with you. Hopefully you will like it.

Now, English is not my First Language, that would be Spanish (French, hopefully, will be the third one) so if you see any misspelling, any grammatical error, or fail to comprehend any given sentence, please let me know, I wish to improve as much as I can and if you're willing to help me, I will be very grateful. I will write what I know, but the good thing about writing what you know, is that you can always know more (If that sounds like you have heard it before, it's because you have)

Without further ado, let us begin.

* * *

 **Prologue.**

"Well! I guess that's it." One of the producers of the incoming series 'Total Drama' said as he was stretching his arms above his head.

He, along with a pair of younger looking men, were sitting on a table in the middle of a dark room, the only source of light was the one coming from the TV they were watching, the last video audition just ended, the only thing being displayed on the screen was static.

The older man took the cigarette off his mouth and put it on the ashtray on the table, blowing the smoke out of his lungs before saying "Gotta be honest with you guys, That one didn't really leave an impression on me, how 'bout you two?" he looked at the two men.

"Same, really " said... ah crap, what was his name again? he really should get better at remembering his employees' names, its not like those two were hired yesterday. He will be One for the time being "That girl felt kind of Samey to the rest of the candidates, specially compared to those that are most likely to be accepted, who did manage to leave an impression. The fact that I still can remember their names while I just literally forgot hers should be telling enough."

"Even if she did feel a little too similar to one of our current favorites, that doesn't necessarily mean she would be out" Said... —oh come on, really? he doesn't need to write down his inters' names in the palm of his hand now, does he?— Two "She lacked a certain spark, something that would definitely set her apart from the rest of the group. People with similar personality are normally attracted to one another. Friendship, alliance, maybe even romance and all that good stuff, but add just a few contrasting traits and you have all kinds of potential conflicts."

The older man nodded, those two may be new in the industry, but they could manage. However only time would tell.

"So... are we done here?" He asked rhetorically "I say we call it a night and go hit the diner at the end of the street. Tomorrow we'll show the final draft for the cast to the rest of the producers."

One nodded his head and Two seemed to suddenly remember something "Ah, about that, sir..." he trailed off.

"What is it?" The senior asked. Two hesitated, as if he regretted opening his mouth as soon as he did. That would not do, the man thought as he didn't take his eyes off his subordinated, either he speaks his mind and risk making a mistake he should learn from in the future, or doesn't and he gets to eat the regret of not doing it, most likely ending up committing said mistake in the future anyway, where he won't be able to pull off the inexperience card as an excuse.

Finally, Two decided to speak "I... may have take the liberty to watch a few audition tapes for the show... by myself" the last part of his sentence was a little weaker in volume than the rest.

One looked at Two with surprised eyes, while the older producer only raised an eyebrow "Oh, really?"

"Y-yeah" The young man nodded his head a little too fast "These video tapes were few of the many that were left out in the preliminary selection, so you most likely didn't get to watch them" He then put a few of said tapes on the table for the other two to see "Out of all the auditions, these four were the one that stood out to me the most. I really think these fellas would be good additions to the cast" Two explained with a small smile.

"Additions?" The older man asked.

"As in, not to replace any member of our current cast, but to add _more_ members in the already large cast?" One questioned "That's assuming, of course, that any of these teens are as good as you think they are. Maybe there was a reason why they didn't give us these audition tapes along with the one they did in the first place?" One was just a little bit skeptical about Two's proposal. The seasoned producer had a perfectly neutral expression on his face as he was listening.

"I understand it is a bit of a stretch to simply accepted these aspirants, but that's not what I'm asking, all I'm asking is for you to see these auditions, and then decide what to do with these fellas. I really do think they at least deserve the opportunity."

The Head Producer was thinking things over, but none of his inters would be able to tell with his poker face, mastered over the years in working in the most unforgiving world of them all. Canadian Entertainment. After the briefest of seconds, he looked down at his watch.

"Well, the diner is open 24/7, so I don't see why we should hurry."

"Sir?" One now looked at his superior with surprised eyes.

"We lose nothing why watching those video tapes except what? one minute per video? We watch them, and then we decided what change, if any, we should make. Who knows? Maybe he actually saw something worthwhile in those teens" The Older Producer explained as he pointed a finger at his other subordinate, who was wearing a pleased smile on his face. He then signed Two to play the tapes so they could all watch those special cases.

"This better be good" One crossed his arms as he leaned back at his chair.

 _'I hope so, pal'_ The Older man thought as he watched Two place the first video tape on the reproducer and push the play bottom.

 _In another reality, that particular inter would have kept his mouth closed, Total Drama Island would have aired with the original cast of twenty-two campers, and he would have went on with his career forever pondering on what could have changed, whether for better or worst, had he decided to speak up that night._

 _This was not that reality._

 _Without any of the presents realizing it,_ _a butterfly has flipped its wings, and no body was able to tell what kind of tornado that little action would provoke._

The screen came back to life again.

 **"Greetings..."**

* * *

 **A/N:** There were many stories in this side that have inspired me to finally write my own.

The legend of Total Drama Island by Gideoncrawle.

Total Drama Once Again by Explorer of the Unknown.

Total Drama Action: All-in by Lowland Warrior.

Total Drama Chris and Total Drama 52 by Mallory16.

Total Alternate Island by Jason Kreuger Myers.

Total Drama World Tour Express by Vychissoise...

Just in case you haven´t notice, I´m all for competition stories.

Happy World AIDS day!

And happy birthday to me... I guess


	2. Episode 1: Not so Happy Campers I

**Disclaimer:** See Prologue.

Let us begin.

* * *

 **Episode 1 - Not so Happy Campers, Part 1**

* * *

The very first image viewed by the lends of the camera was a picturesque body of water, with rolling, pine-covered hills and scattered clouds in the background. There were cliffs on the shore of several hills. In the foreground was a wooden dock, in which was standing a man that popped onto the camera from below.

He was a handsome man in his late twenties, with well-styled black hair and dressed in a casual style suitable for the outdoors, but that were of the highest quality nonetheless, for he, if nothing else, cared an awful lot about his appearance on the way he presented himself to the public, in and out of camera.

"Yo!" The man greeted "We´re comin´ at you _live_ from Camp Wawanakwa, somewhere in Muskoka, Ontario!" He spoke with great enthusiasm and a good level of diction "I´m your host, _Chris McLean,_ dropping season one of the hottest new reality show on television, right now!"

"Here´s the deal: Twenty-six campers have signed up to spend twelve weeks right here in this crummy old summer camp" Chris McLean was walking down the dock as he was continuing his explanation of the show. "They´ll compete in challenges against each other, _then_ have to face the judgement of their fellow campers. Every three days, one team will either win a reward, or watch one of their team members walk down the 'Dock of Shame', take a ride on the 'Loser Boat'," Chris chuckled for a second "and _Leave_ 'Total Drama Island' for good."

The new scene was of a clearing surrounding by large rocks, in the center was a fire pit, with a group of thirteen stumps to serve as seating located towards the rocks. "Their fate will be decided here, at the _dramatic_ Campfire Ceremonies, where after each challenge, all but one camper will receive... a marshmallow" He then ate one of the white treats "In the end, only one will be left standing, and will be rewarded with cheese tabloid fame" he then produced a number of magazines with his face on their covers. Soon after, he then showed to the camera a treasure chest full of gold and other valuables. "And a small fortune which, let´s face it, they´ll probably blow in a week"

"To survive, they´ll have to battle black flies, grizzly bears, disgusting camp food, and... each other."

"Every moment will be caught on one of the hundreds of cameras situated all over the camp" Chris explained as the camera was now focused on his flashy smile as he was standing back in the dock "Who will crumble under the pressure? Find out here, right now, on Total! Drama! Island!"

* * *

Dear mom and dad, I'm doing fine  
You guys are on my mind  
You asked me what I wanted to be  
And now I think the answer is plain to see

I wanna be famous

I wanna live close to the sun  
Well, pack your bags cause I've already won.  
Everything to prove nothing in my way  
I'll get there one day

Cause I wanna be famous

(Nanana'nanaana nana nana)

I wanna be, I wanna be; I wanna be famous (Nanana'nanaana nana nana)  
I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous (Nanana'nanaana nana nana)

* * *

"Welcome back to 'Total Drama Island'!" Chris said as the camera faced back to him standing on the dock. "Alright, it´s time to meet our first thirteen campers. We told them they´d all be staying at this five-stars resort, so, if they seem a little TO´d, that´s probably why."

As soon as he finished his sentence, the first boat has already arrived at the dock, leaving the very first camper to compete in the show. It was a tall boy of big frame, his body resembling a square figure. He was dressed in a white dress shirt bottomed all the way up with a light gray tie all under a sweater vest most people wouldn´t be able to tell whether it was a very dark gray or black, a pair of gray pants and black sneakers. He had a fair complexion, his dark and small eyes were hiding behind a pair of glasses as square as his facial structure, reinforced by his neatly combed hair, with not a single jet-black stray out of its place. Taking his single big luggage case, with calculated, if rigid steps, he went to greet the Host of the show.

"Here is **I** saac!" Chris introduced the newcomer.

"Greetings, Mister McLean. It is an honor to meet you" His voice, of a naturally deep tone, sounded soft and even "I want to thank you for accepting me in the show. I certainly plan on making the most of this opportunity" His words were not tripped with excitement or joy, nor was there any indication that he was being sarcastic or insincere. He spoke those words and that was it, so all Chris could do was take them at face value, and even then, there was no way for him to know how honest the newcomer´s sentence was, for never has Chris ever heard a teenager express themselves the way Isaac just did.

"Okay...?" Was all Chris could say. "And you can call me Chris, everyone else will do it" Isaac nodded his head and went on his way to the other side if the dock, and it was then when Chris noticed that Isaac´s arms were not moving an itch as he was walking in just a much of a robotic fashion as his talking.

The next camper arriving was a slightly short, slightly pudgy white girl with her brown hair tied up in an awkwardly placed pony tail. Between her big framed glassed and braces and her general lack of conventional beauty and her being even more lacking in the fashion sense, wearing two pieces of shirts of different tones of green and pink pants, she did not irradiate an ounce of "coolness" out of her. At the very least, she did have the excitement part checked, if the big smile on her face was any indication.

"Beth! What´s up!" Chris greeted.

Beth left her luggage where she was standing before spinning straight to the Host with her arms outstretched "It´s so incredulous to meet you!" she lisped as she was hugging the host, and in a beat, she let go, eyeing the man curiously, not noticing him brushing off his shirt. "Wow, you´re much shorter in real life" she said without any hint of tact.

"Uh... thanks?" Chris mussed. It was the second camper in a row that he didn´t know how to response to, suffice to say things weren´t looking particularly good. Fortunately for him, he wouldn´t have to deal much more with her, as she went to her marry way to greet the previous camper.

"Hi! I´m Beth!" she greeted a little bit too loudly, but Isaac wasn´t bothered by it. At the very least, he didn´t _seem_ bothered, given that his facial expression wasn´t very... well, expressive.

"Greeting, my name is Isaac. It is nice to meet you, Beth."

The farm nerd raised an eyebrow "What´s wrong with your voice?" she kept on with her tactless remarks.

"What is wrong with my voice?" Isaac expression changed from neutral blankness to a questioning frown, but there was no distinctive change in his speech.

"Your voice sounds kind of robotic, like those prerecorded messages people hear when waiting on the phone" She tried to explain herself as best as she could, not really paying any mind about whether what she was saying was coming off in a bad way or not "You know what I mean?"

"I´m sorry. I do not know what you are talking about."

Chris looked at the two nerds interacting and... they both certainly left much to be desired, if his skeptical look was anything to go by. Two awkward teens having an awkward conversation that didn´t seem to lead them anywhere wasn´t something specially fitted for the type of show he was aiming for, nor what the public would be expecting from it. It would be one thing if that interaction would have serve to establishes a hint of what would be of those two, whether friendship, a romance waiting to happen or, his personal favorite; as unlikely as it seemed given the subjects, a conflict between the two, but the fact that Isaac has effectively ended the conversation with such a lackluster response pretty much didn´t make it worthwhile to give any of them more screen-time than needed, at least, for the time being. Well, he finally thought, it just would be something that will have to be edited out in production. It would be better for everyone that way, everyone meaning the common denominator viewer of the show, as well as Isaac and Beth, as it would save them from making a bad first impression (or worst, a boring one). At least more than they already have, anyway.

As he was pondering about all of this, the next camper was arriving at the island.

All the campers that were to compete in the show were sixteen years old, fresh out of their sophomore year in high school. This camper, however, didn´t look the part. Indistinguishable from a fully-grown man, the newcomer was a young black male with an unusually thick beard for a boy his age, taller than Isaac by a couple of itches, and with just as much of a big frame as the former, only his body had more defined muscles. His attire was simple enough, with a white skullcap, a green t-shirt with a ´D´ in the chest, a pair of gray cargo short and a pair of sandals. The most noticeable aspect of this young man, though, was his polite, friendly and shy smile, heavily contrasting with his otherwise intimidating appearance.

"DJ!" Chris announced.

"Yo! Chris McLean! how it´s going?" Devon Joseph, or DJ as he would rather be called, greeted the host, both engaging in a high five. Quickly noticing the surroundings, DJ could not help but ask "Hey, you sure you got the right place here? Where´s the hot tub at?"

"Yo dawg, this is it, Camp Wawanakwa!" Chris´s plastic smile never left his face.

All DJ could do was keep on walking with his back to the other side of the dock "Looked a lot different in the application form" he murmured with a certain disappointment.

"Hi, I´m Beth" the nerdette said in a softer tone this time, but her smile still was as big as always.

"Hey, what´s up?" DJ, still a little sour about this new turn of events, tried to offer the small girl a polite smile in return "Nice to meet you, guys" he addressed Isaac as well.

"Likewise, my name is Isaac" the monochromatic nerd responded.

Whatever their introduction to one another was going to be, was mostly ignored by Chris and the cameraman "Hey Gwen" The Host said.

The next boat didn´t waste time in leaving the next camper. Her appearance as pale as the full moon was heavily contrasting with her presence as dark as the midnight sky. Her short hair was dyed pitch-black, with highlights of teal color. Her outfit consisted of a dark sleeveless corset top, a short skirt with a patchwork look of forest green hose and black, knee level platform boots. For an otherwise pretty girl, she didn´t seem much like it considering her very first appearance on camera was of her wearing a frown as she looked at her surroundings.

"You mean we´re staying here?" She asked incredulously, as she made her way to the dock.

"No, _you´re_ staying here" Chris explained "My crib is an air stream with A/C, that way" He thumbed over his shoulder in an unspecified direction.

Gwen didn´t seem very pleased with the Host´s attitude or his fake smile "I did not sign up for this" she growled.

"Actually, you did" Chris smirked, proudly presenting the thick contract to the goth´s face.

Gwen took the contract off his hand, and quickly teared every single sheet apart before throwing it all to the ocean, smiling at the host with a smug grin of her own.

Chris, however, did not seem faced one bit "The cool thing about lawyers is" He displayed yet another thick contract seemingly out of thin air "They make _lots_ of copies."

"I am not staying here" Gwen said with finality, taking all her bags and facing the side of the dock she came from.

"Cool. I hope you can swim, though, because your ride just left."

True enough, as soon as Gwen turned to get on the boat, it was already covering a good distance from the island. Resigned, all she could do was mutter an angry "Jerk." She then went to the rest of the campers, but given her current sour humor, she decided it was best to ignore them.

Loud, vivid music was heard from the distant, only growing in volume and clarity as the next boat was approaching, the next competitor was dancing at the top of the boat at the rhythm of the party song. His cowboy hat was covering his blond hair, an item he would also use on his sleeps to cover his blue eyes. His pink shirt was totally open, revealing his rather impressive six pack. He was wearing a pair of blue beach shorts and a pair of sandals. As soon as the boat reached the dock, the teen made his way out of the transport with some flashy flips and handstands, landing perfectly in the wooden floor, and as a final touch, his luggage case was thrown out of the yacht as well, landing perfectly next to its owner, who sent a thumbs-up to the off-screen person.

"Chris McLean!" The newcomer said as soon as he made his way to the host "What´s up, man! It´s an honor to meet you, man!"

"The Geoff-ster!" Chris exclaimed "Welcome to the island, man!"

"Thanks, man!"

"They say ´man´ one more time, I´m gonna puke" Gwen mused to no one in particular.

"I did not know hearing certain words could trigger such a physical reaction on a person" Isaac said, his voice even but with his eyebrows raised, clearing taking the goth´s words at heart. Gwen, and both Beth and DJ for the matter, looked at him with a raised eyebrow each.

"I was talking figuratively" The Goth explained slowly, looking oddly at the nerd.

Isaac blinked. His expression was as blank once more, as if processing the new information he was given, and once he was done, realization dawned on his face, in the form of his eyebrows raising ever so slightly "Oh" was all he said.

Chris and Geoff high-fived each other, and the sound of the next transport could be heard.

"Everybody, this is Lindsay" Chris announced.

Lindsay was a sight to behold, as she will turn out to be the most beautiful girl to grace the show. Her straight blonde hair looked like it was made of gold, hanging freely to her lower back with a blue bandanna holding it in place, a bandanna that went well with her sky-blue eyes. Her face was beautiful, and her skin was fair and flawless. Her attire was composed with warm color, from stylized cowboy boots to a short skirt and a red tube top under a brown bra top, both of which seemed ready to tear apart as the fabric was tasked to hold in place her exuberant chest. ´Well endowed´ did not begin to describe her physical form.

The camera man seemed to think so as well, for he spent a generous amount of time shooting her form in full display for the camera from toes to head, where she was smiling a sweet smile "Not too shabby?" Chris said not one bit subtly.

"Hi" when Lindsay finally spoke, a soft, melodic voice came out of her fine lips "Okay, you look so familiar."

"I´m Chris McLean?" Chris offered, still smiling, at least until he saw the confused frown in the blonde bombshell´s face "The _host_ of the _show_?" he insisted.

Lindsay´s frown deepened, until a bell finally ringed in her head "Oh... _that´s_ where I know you from" She said, her smile returning on her face.

"Ah..." it was in that moment when Chris realized Lindsay´s looks were not a gift, but a compensation for her lacking in the brain department "Yeah..."

The next camper was a girl gorgeous in her own right, even if not as pretty as Lindsay. She appeared to be of mixed blood, half white and half Asian, giving her a pale, pretty skin tone, contrasting with her long, straight, beautiful jet-black hair. She was a girl who liked to showcase her body, if her choice of clothing was any indication, with a wine top, barely legal short and high platforms. Getting off the boat, she was wearing a pair of sunglasses, which reflected the image of the competitors before her, put off by the intimidating vibe she was irradiating, intentionally or otherwise. Putting off her sunglasses, like all others before her, she looked at the place she was tricked into staying for the rest of the competition. The frown in her face was all you needed to know she was certainly not happy.

"Heather!"

Heather didn´t even spare a glance to the host, and certainly didn´t plan on sparing one to the rest of her camp-mates, until one of them decided to talk her, or rather _at_ her.

"Hi!" Beth all but yelled, to excited to notice all the split she was unintentionally letting go out of her mouth "Looks like we´re your new friends for the next twelve weeks!" neither did she notice how Heather was physically recoiling by her, whether by all the saliva or by the ideal of being _´friends_ ´ with her.

Loud music was once again heard from the distance, loud, rock punk music. The next camper a boy with his face practically covered in metal, with piercings in his eyebrow, nose and ears. His most distinguishable feature was his green fauxhawk, standing up from the rest of his dark hair. He was wearing a black shirt with a skull design over a long-sleeve light yellow undershirt, blue pants and a pair of red converses. One could tell he wasn´t of the smiling type, for he had an even deeper frown than Gwen and Heather combined when they arrived, and that was even before he could clearly look at the camp that would tell him he, and everyone else, got played.

"Duncan, dude!" Chris greeted.

"I don´t like..." He raised a threatening fist " _surprises_."

Chris didn´t seem to be faced "Yeah, your parole officer warmed me about that, man" he crossed his arms, looking at Duncan like a person who already won the argument "He also told me to give him a holler anytime and have you returned to juvie"

Duncan breathed in soundly, he might have lost that little engagement, but he refused to look defeated "Ok then" He then went on his marry way to the dock, where all the other campers were, one of then specially catching his eye "Meet you by the campfire, gorgeous" he leered at Heather.

"Drop dead, you skeez" She shot back with her arms crossed. She decided to walk to far end of the dock, away from everybody "I´m calling my parents. You cannot make me stay here" she flatly ignored Beth waving her hand at her.

Looking at the camera, Chris grinned and once again showing the infamous contract, implicitly stating that yes, he can make her stay here.

The honk of the upcoming boat announced the upcoming camper, a young caucasian man of muscular build full energy and excitement was holding the cord that connected him to the notoriously faster yacht. He was wearing a fully red track suit, complemented with wristbands and a headband on his brown hair of the same color, contrasting heavily with the crystal-clear blue ocean he was water skiing on.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Tyler!"

Tyler took one of his hands off the handler to wave at his public. Whatever first good impression he could have of made, however, wasn´t going to be, as both of the skies on his feet were gone and he involuntarily let go of the handler altogether. Before Tyler could realize what was happening, the momentum was dragging him through the water, spinning over the surface of the ocean till he hit the dodge. Upon collision, Tyler was sent flying a good distance upwards till he landed on the piles of luggage cases and bags.

The witnesses winced at the poor jock, for that was an epic fail as epic as it could possibly get. They then saw in awe one of the bags up in the air, which soon dived into the water, creating a splash great enough to soak wet the nearest unfortunate camper.

"Ugh! My shoes!" Heather complained.

"Wicked wipe-out, man!" Chris cheered.

Out of the piles of bags on top of him, Tyler gave a thumbs-up, making both DJ and Geoff raise a thumb-up of their up, it was all the reassurance they needed to know that Tyler was fine. Isaac, however, wasn´t very convinced.

Rushing to the piles of luggage, he moved away all of the bags like they didn´t weight a thing, because they didn´t, not to him. He took a hold of Tyler "Are you unwell? How hurt are you?" His voice was still even, but his eyebrows frowned into a subtle expression of concern, but genuine concern nonetheless.

"Psssh... Of course, I´m fine!" Tyler tried and failed to wave the bigger guy off "That was just one of my many impressive feats!"

"It is possible he might be suffering of a contusion" Isaac´s tone of voice changed ever so slightly into one of worriment. He looked back at his camp-mates "He is being delusional."

Isaac unknowingly gave Tyler a blow that hurt more than the physical punishment he just went through, and his well-intended but misguided kindness didn´t help to cushion it one bit. All the other campers had the decency to hold their laughter into small giggles, except for Lindsay, who looked confused, and Duncan, who flat out snorted. Chris was also snickering, between Tyler introduction and Heather dripping wet from head to toe, he really was having a fun time with these teens, and the competition hasn´t even started yet. He stopped his snickering when he heard a heavy, long sigh from behind him.

He turned to see the next teen, immediately recognizing him "Welcome to camp, Harold."

Harold was a tall, lanky boy that had a underdeveloped beard on his chin, which, alongside his hair, was autumn red, his pale face had freckles all over it. He was wearing a pair of glasses that reflected a greenish light, aside from that, he was dressed unremarkable, with a blue shirt with a hamburger logo on it over a red undershirt, a pair of green pants and a pair of sneakers. The most notorious aspect on his person was the electronic keyboard he was carrying. Harold didn´t react to Chris´s introduction, and instead looked around the place with more critical eye than those before him.

"What´s he looking at?" Beth asked DJ, who was just as lost as her.

Finally, Harold spoke "So you mean this show is at a crappy summer camp and not on some big stage or something?"

"You got it!" Chris pointed a pistol finger at the newcomer.

"Yes!" Harold cheered, taking Chris a little off guard "That´s so much favorable to my skills" He said as he was making his way to the dock, completely missing Chris grimacing at him. Soon enough, the next boat left the next camper.

"Contestant number eleven is Trent."

Trent was a rather attractive young man, with a messy yet stylized black hair and a handsome fair toned face, all complemented with his green eyes. His clothing style was the perfect balance between stylish and practical, with a shirt with the slightest shade of green with a hand design on it, over a undershirt with camo patterns, a pair of black pants and outdoors green shoes. He was one of the few campers who didn´t bring any luggage case, instead, he was carrying a rather big backpack designed for camping, and a guitar case, inside of which was Trent´s most valuable possession.

He made his way to greet the host of the show "Hey, good to meet you, man!" He said laid-back and chill, a friendly smile on his face "Saw you on that figure skating show. Nice work."

Chris and Trent fist-bumped "Hey thanks man. I knew I rocked that show!"

"I saw that!" Beth revealed "One the guys dropped his partner on her head. Though they got immunity that week."

"Lucky!" Harold said, though his tone of voice didn´t show the enthusiasm he was feeling "I hope I get dropped on my head."

"Me too!" Lindsay added.

It was then when Trent looked around the place "So... this is it?" He asked hesitantly, hoping the answer wasn´t what he thought it was going to be. He looked over the other campers, one of them was dripping wet for some reason and another one was picking on his nose for some reason. This really wasn´t what he was expecting "Alrighty then..." it´s not like he could just leave.

Walking to the rest of his camp mates, he noticed another one standing out from the rest, in a positive way this time around. He smiled at Gwen, and although she was ready to brush him off at first, she couldn´t help but smile back at him, being the first time she genuinely smiled since she got in the island.

The next yacht was carrying a girl whose beauty one could describe as simple, casual, natural. She had long blonde hair tied up in a practical pony tail, her most attractive trait, however, were her green eyes. She was wearing simple, practical sporty clothes made entirely of blue tones, with a baby blue sweater with hood, a pair of blue shorts and a pair of sandals. What stood out the most was her surfing board painted in orange and intense red, contrasting with the cool colors of her clothes. It would be no understatement to say that the girl might as well have lived her entire life in the beach.

"Hey, what´s up?" She said once she got off the boat with her board and with her bag that she left on the wooden floor for the moment.

"Alright, our Surfer Chick, Bridgette, is here!" Chris presented.

"Nice board" Duncan said sarcastically "This ain´t Malibu, honey."

"I thought we were going to be on a beach" Bridgette explained.

"We are!" Chris confirmed. To further drive his point home, the camera showed a shot of the beach of the island, particularly on sea gull with its neck trapped on a six pack soda can cord.

Bridgette sighed "Great" she said, not really meaning it. She bent over to take her bag back, but she didn´t realize that in doing so, her board inclined forward.

"Alright, only one more camper and we-!" Chris was cut out mid-sentence when his head was hit with the board, Bridgette was blissfully unaware of what she just did. "Aouch! Darn it! That hurts!"

"Hey guys" She greeted her new camp-mates.

"Heeey" Geoff was the first one to say "I´m Geoff."

"What´s up?" She turned to greet him, spinning her board around as she did so, inadvertently almost hitting Duncan, Harold and Trent.

"Dang! Watch the board, man!" Harold complained, but was mostly ignored.

"Hi, I´m Beth!" She said from behind the surfer girl, making her turn over once again.

"Hey" Bridgette didn´t even seem to notice that Trent, Harold and Duncan were there, as she almost hit them once again.

"Okay, we all met surfer girl" Heather said, mostly dry now, squeezing some of the water out of her hair "Can we get on with the show, please?"

"Someone missed their double cappuccino machiatto this morning" Duncan joked, earning a nod from Harold.

"Get bent" Heather shot back, the sound of the next boat already leaving the island could be heard in the background.

The last camper of the first half was yet another blonde, but it was one with a completely different vibe than those of Lindsay or Bridgette. Like a porcelain doll came to life, she was a dainty looking girl with pale skin, big round light brown eyes, a small nose and fine lips. Her ash blonde hair, mostly straight but with the slightest touches of curves and waves here and there, hanged freely down to her lower back with only a small light brown headband to hold it in its place. She was wearing a dress shirt with the lightest shade of beige, with a golden neck bow, she also had a high box plated skirt that reached just above her knees, colored with a dark yet warm brown tone, white socks below her knees and a pair of light brown moccasins. She looked like a sepia image lost in time.

"Everybody, let me introduce you, **S** uzanne!" Chris announced, already recovered from the hit.

Moving with the grace and confidence of a cat, Suzanne made her way to the ever growing crowd, wearing a smile that while friendly, it did hide multiple vibes, namely potency, determination and the smallest touch of mischief "Why hello there, Mister McLean. It´s a honor to meet you in real life" She said sincerely enough, reaching out a hand for him to shake, which he did "I´m looking forward on spending the next twelve weeks with you and the rest of the competitors."

"Good to hear" Chris said "You can call me Chris, though, everyone else will be doing it."

Suzanne nodded, and went on walking through the dock, her arms crossed behind her back, glancing at the camp that certainly didn´t look at all like what she was expecting, but decided to not make a comment about it, things will be explained soon enough, she figured. Once she was before the rest of the campers she greeted them with a polite smile "Hello everybody, it is nice to meet you all."

Duncan really wasn´t impressed, with a mock English accent, he said "Oh no, dear. The pleasure is total—."

"Hopefully, it will be just as nice to get to know you better" She interrupted Duncan as she was walking past him, not even sparing him a glance.

"Hi, I´m Beth!" She greeted once again.

"Suzanne, happy to be acquaintance with you" She shook the farmer´s hand "Same goes for you there" Suzanne offered her hand to DJ.

"The feeling is mutual, name´s DJ" the Gentle Giant replied, reciprocating the blonde´s gesture.

Gwen rolled her eyes and scoffed a little. She, much like Duncan, wasn´t very amused.

"I´m sorry, I didn´t quite catch that. Do you have something to say?" Suzanne asked, looking directly at the Goth, her smile now had a subtle yet sharp edge.

Being a little taken aback, Gwen only looked away. "No."

"That's what I thought" Suzanne replied. It was now her turn to look away from the other girl, openly ignoring Gwen´s glare.

"Alright, that makes our first half of the cast and things are already looking good" Chris added, not having missed the little engagement between Suzanne and Gwen "Hopefully they will only get better once we introduced the rest of the contestants" He pointed at the end of the dock, were a new boat was coming "Starting with **L** illian!"

Starting the second half of the cast, came a girl that looked every bit like a shirking violet, both in color schemes and in personality, if the timid, almost sad expression on her face and her withdraw posture was anything to go by. Her brown hair was easily the longest among the female cast, reaching down to her mid thighs. Some of it covered some of the right half of her naturally tan face, her right eye almost disappearing under it, a shame really, for she had pretty orbs of light brown tone. Her attire consisted of a lilac shirt with floral design over a long sleeved, long bodied lavender undershirt, a pair of blue legging pants and black shoes.

When she got off the boat, her shy demeanor didn't seem to get any better. In fact, it seemed to have worsened, as she was now playing with the sleeves of her undershirt, as she could somehow draw strength from the fabric to introduce herself to the crowd, but all she could manage was a small, almost inaudible "Hi..." she weakly weaved her hand.

"Hello there, Lilly" Chris smiled his plastic smile, not noticing, or caring, about Lilly´s lack of enthusiasm "Why don´t you go over there and say ´hi´ to the rest of the competitors?"

Lilly shrank on her shoulders a little, but ultimate nodded, walking up to the campers with slow pace, and once she was before them she said "...you."

"I´m sorry, what?" DJ asked gently "I didn´t hear you very well. Mind repeating?"

"...ce to meet you."

"A little louder, please?" DJ was very patience with the new girl, giving that he was one of the few that didn´t give her a weird look or with one of their eyebrows raised at her.

"IT IS SO NICE TO MEET YOU ALL!" She yelled. That took all the campers by surprise, but none were more surprised than Lillian herself, who, as soon as she spoke those words, she covered her mouth, her eyes wide in embarrassment and panic. Before anyone could say anything, she ran past all of them to the far end of the dock, the muffled sound of her "I ruined it, I ruined it, I ruined it" could be faintly heard.

"Ah..." DJ wanted to say something, but quickly decided against it. The next boat already left the next participant.

He was of indian descent, that much could be seen in his skin tone and facial structure common in the race. He had a rather large forehead, one that hide an equally large brain, a brain which all of its intelligent, creativity and intuition had failed him in the fashion department. A red sweater vest over a green shirt over a white undershirt with its sleeves rolled up to his mid forearms, with cargo pants that didn´t match one bit with the upper part of his attire and a pair of outdoor shoes. Besides his clothes, he was also wearing a boring expression on his face when he was walking down the dock with only a suitcase on his person.

"Our next camper is Noah!"

"You got my memo about my life-threatening allergies?" Noah said, not acknowledging the host introduction.

"Sure someone did!"

"Good" Noah kept on walking, leaving the host behind "Is this where we´re staying?" He asked, not really expecting an response to the question he already knew the answer to.

Duncan decided to give him one anyway "No" Duncan put his fist on his other palm, cracking his knuckles "Is your mother´s house, and we are throwing a party."

"Cute" Noah didn´t seem faced by the Delinquent´s threats "Nice piercings, original. Do them yourself?"

Duncan grabbed Noah´s lip, a needle on his other hand "Yeah, you want one?"

Noah groaned a little "Ah, no thanks" his words came out a little weird with his lip stretched out like that "Can I have my lip back, please?" Duncan let go "Thanks" Noah said, sounding boring once again.

"What´s up, y´all, LeShawna is in the house!"

The next boat was still far away from the dock, but the voice of the newcomer could be heard clearly as she was weaving her hand to the campers and the host. She was a young black woman with her black hair tied up in a pony tail, dressed in a simple fashion, with blue jeans and a t-shirt with kumquats in its design, her most noticeable accessory being her rings. She, much like Lindsay, was the epitome of hourglass figure, only with a few extra sizes, though she was not truly fat. Her introduction was one of the most standoffish, leaving the campers with a variety of expression and first impressions —most noticeable Harold´s— as well as being the only one were the host didn´t say anything at all.

The voice of the incoming Homegirl was enough to make Lillian snap out of her self restrained form and looked at her back, searching for the source of the confidence, the self assurance, the pride and everything else she herself lacked.

"Yo, baby. Hey How you doing, how´s it going?" LeShawna high-fived the host as she passed him by, carrying her leopard themed rolling luggage case. Then, addressing directly the other contestants, she said "Feel free to quit now and save yourselves the trouble ´cause I came to win" She said half teasing half meaning it "Oh what´s up my brother" She said directly to DJ, both of the engaging on a quick high-five "Give me some sugar, baby."

She seemed like a nice enough person, Lillian thought as she went to try another chance in introducing herself. Hopefully she will be well received, assuming, of course, she doesn´t ruin the opportunity herself, again.

But Harold beat her to the punch, approaching LeShawna first, eyeing her curiously. Both DJ and LeShawna raised an eyebrow at him "I´ve never seen a girl like you in real life before" he revealed.

LeShawna turned to fully face him "Excuse me?" she didn´t sound so pleased.

"You´re real big, and loud" Harold explained, without any hint of tact.

"What did you say to me?!" Now she was absolutely not pleased, Lillian alongside some of the other camper took a step back, surprised by the sudden change of demeanor of the new girl "Oh no, you didn´t! You have not seen anything yet!" She exclaimed as she threateningly approached the redhead, rolling up one of her already short sleeves. "I´ll show you big, baby!" out of reflex, Harold took position in what seemed to be the takas of an unspecified martial art, he didn´t have the need to use them, though, for both DJ and Bridgette were quick on their feet, managing to take a hold of LeShawna and restraining her just when she was about to launch onto Harold. They stop her from moving, but not from talking "Oh, yeah?! You want some of this?! Well, come on then!"

"Alright campers, settle down!" Chris called. All the other campers visibly relaxed at the Host intervention, any attempt on LeShawna part to start a physical confrontation were now leave aside as she was fixing up her shirt, put out of place due to DJ and Bridgette´s restrain, though she hasn´t calm down completely yet, for she sent one last warning glare at Harold, who smiled innocently at her.

None of them seemed to notice the present of the Wallflower. What else was knew to her?

The next boat leave not one but two new campers, a pair of nonidentical twins as nonidentical as nonidentical two can be. One of them was a skinny girl, with naturally dark tan skin tone and was the taller of the two. The other one was a fat girl, with fair skin tone and the shorter of the two. They both had black hair, tied up into two pigtails. Besides matching hairstyles, they also had the same fashion taste, both wearing black and white prison striped tops and pink shorts, and finally the same pink shoes. Even their manger bags matched.

"Ladies, Sadie, Katie. Welcome to your new home for twelve weeks."

They both looked at their surroundings, looking at the camp that stunk so bad flies could be heard all over the place from afar. But instead of the frown that Chris hoped would wipe out those silly smiles out of the newcomers´ faces by revealing them the true about the accommodations, he got the exact opposite.

"Oh my gosh. Sadie look!" Katie, the tall, skinny and dark one said "It´s a summer camp!"

"Okay, I always wanted to go to summer camp!" Sadie, the short, fat and fair one replied.

"Eeee!" They both clapped their hands and when to their marry way to the rest of the campers. Chris watched them go, not really knowing what to make of them, fortunately for him, he didn't need to, for the next participant arrived to the island almost right away.

"Ezekiel! What´s up, man?"

Ezekiel was a rather peculiar teen, even among the ones that were about to compete in the show. He had a pale skin, much like Gwen´s, result of it rarely being touch by sunbeams, the fact that he was one of the most heavily clothed people, didn´t help matters, with his artichoke green winter coat (despite it being the beginning of summer) his heavy-set pants and his boots. His hair with an odd shade of brown (possibly because it didn´t spend much time under the sun either) was under a winter hat.

Ezekiel looked up "I think I see a bird."

Trent snorted, next to him at each side Gwen and Geoff looked at the newcomer with baffled expression.

Isaac looked up as well "It appears to be a bald eagle" He adjusted his glassed so the reflection of the sun wouldn´t mess with his view "A large bird of prey of the Accipitridae family, belonging to several groups of genera" nodding his head, Isaac´s lips curved into a small smile "Beautiful specimen."

"Okay" Chris readied himself, putting a hand of Ezekiel´s shoulder as he began to speak to the latest contestant, in a extremely rare moment from the Host´s part to actually try and help somebody else other than himself "Look, dude, I know you don´t get out much; been home-schooled your whole life, raised by freaky prairie people, just don´t say much and try not to get kicked off too early, okay?" he pushed him to the rest of the campers.

"Yes sir" Was all Ezekiel said.

"That´s just..." Gwen couldn´t find the words to describe what she just saw "Wow..."

The next participant was a young boy that seemed yet to go through puberty, with his relatively short stature, underdeveloped muscles and a childlike face, reinforced by the tooth gap in his upper teeth. He didn´t stand out much on his own, with his brown hair, fair skin and blue eyes, and his clothing style was even less remarkable, with his shirt over a long-sleeved undershirt with its sleeves rolled up a little bit and his jeans. Despite his plainness, his boyish smile gave him a cute charm. If nothing else, he was confidant, or at the very least, seemed to be, once he walked to the host.

"Cody. The Code-ster! The Code-Meister!" Chris and Cody were finger-pistoling each other as the Host was presenting the newcomer to the campers and to the rest of the world through the cameras. They high-fived.

"Dude, psyched to be here, man" He began to walk down the dock in an exaggerated fashion to show off the manliness and the coolness everyone but him knew he didn´t have "I see the ladies have already arrived" He then sent LeShawna, Lindsay and Bridgette; the closets group of girls to him, a quick finger-pistol "Alright." he said in a tone that also tried and fail to convent the cool and manly aura he was trying to project.

Bridgette looked at him baffled, not knowing what to do or say in respond to Cody´s act. Lindsay giggled a little, finding Cody´s attempt to flirt with them cute, but not charming in any way. LeShawna was the only one who didn´t react, seemingly barely even noticing Cody was there. He decided to fix that, addressing her directly when whatever he was about to say was interrupted by one of LeShawna´s finger on his lips "Save it, short stuff" was all she said before she looked away, clearly uninterested.

The next camper let her presence be known for everyone on the dock as soon as her heavy foot stepped on it, making the immediate area trembling not so slightly. She wasn´t the type to waste her time in fashion, for she had her black hair tied up in a practical pony-tail and her entire attire consisted in a navy blue two pieced sport suit, white socks and sporty shoes of the same blue. She could have been a pretty girl, certainly having the attributes and the hourglass figure to pull it off, even having a beauty mark in just the right place of her face, but it was lost in the amount of muscle she has developed, something she certainly felt much more proud of, although most people wouldn´t be able to tell with her blank and still somehow angry expression that didn´t allow for anyone to read it.

"Eva, nice. Glad you could make it" The host greeted, but was mostly ignored, Eva passing him by without so much of a sign of acknowledgement.

She kept on walking till she was in the middle of the crowd, most of them looking warily at her, trying to keep a distance, save for Cody, who friendly offer her a high-five, which she plainly ignored, dropping her rather heavy looking bag onto the dock, and, unknowingly, onto Cody´s feet.

The people around flinched in sympathy for the small guy, who was holding his left foot in pain "Augh!" he moaned "Whoa, what´s in there? Dumbbells?"

Eva looked at him with a raised eyebrow —or rather, with half of her eyebrow raised, for she had a monobrow— before answering him with a flat expression "Yes."

"She is all yours, man" Duncan whispered to DJ, who didn´t seen one bit convinced.

"Woohoo!" a potent voice took the host by surprise, hurting his ear just s little bit.

"Chris! What´s happening?!" when Chris turned to see the source of the yell, he found a mountain of a man. The next competitor was easily one of the biggest teens in the camp, for not only he was tall, he also had a big round frame due to the sheer amount of fat he kept in his body, although id didn´t seem to slow him down in his excitement display. A white t-shirt of unmeasurable size was covering his body, a green maple leaf was at the center of the bast whiteness, complemented by green short (Short for someone his size, that´s it, for they would probably qualify as full pants for any other person) His hair seemed to be made of sunbeams, given that his blond wild hair seemed to grow in all directions. His mighty laugh sounded throughout all the dock once again "This is awesome! Woohoo!" He thrown a punch up the air.

"Owen!" Chris pointed at the newcomer "Welcome!" he raised his voice in an attempt to match Owen´s volume and energy. He then was easily pick up by Owen, who affectionately crushed him in one of his soon to be infamous bear hugs.

"Awesome to be here, man!" Owen didn´t notice the Host´s clear disconform at hearing Owen´s voice up so closely, and the painful affection he was giving him "Yeah! Man, this is just... so..." Owen was suddenly lost of words.

"Awesome?" Gwen offered, a small smile on her face.

"Yes, awesome, woo!" Owen smiled once again "Ar you gonna be on my team?!"

"Oh... I sure hope so" She rolled her eyes, wiggling a finger in the air, nowhere near as excited as Owen.

"Woooooo!" Owen cheered nonetheless.

"You about finish?" Chris was losing his patience.

Owen finally placed him down the dock "Sorry, dude. I´m just so psyched!"

"Cool" Chris smiled once again "And here comes, Courtney!"

The next boat just arrived to the dock, carrying the next camper. Courtney was a girl whose skin coloration was the result of both her natural tan and spending a great deal of time outside for her activities. She was a pretty girl, although not a very fashionable one, her brunet hair was cut down just above her shoulder for practical reasons. She was wearing a gray sweater over a white dress shirt with its sleeves rolled up to her elbows, green legging pants and high platforms to make up for the fact that she was most likely going to be on the shorter side of the female cast and one of the shortest teens in the competition. She was wearing a friendly smile, waving at the host and the rest of the cast as she was getting closer to the dock.

When the boat finally stopped, Chris took her hand, helping her get off the boat "Thank you" Courtney politely replied, She then when on her way to the dock to the other campers "Hi, you must be the other contestants" She greeted them friendly enough "It´s so nice to meet you all."

Suzanne eyed Courtney for briefest of seconds "The pleasure is all ours" she said, an unreadable smile crossed her face.

"How is it going?" Owen took Courtney hand and rapidly shook it "I´m Owen!"

"Nice to meet you, O...wow..."

Courtney was lost of words, when she saw the upcoming camper.

He, much like Lindsay, was a sight to behold. He was from Hawaiian roots, his flawless dark skin and his dark brown hair; flowing with the wind as the boat was approaching the island, being the most notorious proof of this. However, his most attractive attributes were his sapphire orbs, shinning dazzlingly from the distant. Besides being dark and handsome —so handsome indeed—, he was tall and muscular, though not muscle bound, his body practically sculpted from the same hand that put the angel out of the rock. His physical appearance alone was enough to attract as many looks as possible, the fact that he was wearing a plain green shirt, wore out pants and a pair of sandals did not detract from his presence one bit because, really, anything would have looked good on him, the most noteworthy piece he was wearing was a collar with a small tiki on it, serving as yet another reminded of the newcomer´s ancestry.

Everyone on the dock could not look away from him, the girls and Owen —specially Owen— out of immediate infatuation and the boys out of admiration, because they, unlike the girls; ironically enough, understood that one did not simply woke up an Adonis without putting a great deal of effort into it. From the distance, the newcomer saw all of their reactions. Satisfied with the positive reaction his presence alone has caused, he decided to grace the camera with his signature dazzling smile and, that right there, was all it took to make Sadie faint.

"This is Justin" Chris introduced Justin after he got off the boat, they both fist bumped "Welcome to ´Total Drama Island´."

"Thanks, Chris. This is great."

"Just so you know, we picked you based entirely on your looks." Chris informed him.

Justin shrugged, still smiling "I can deal with that" he then when on his way to the rest of the campers.

"I like your pants" Owen was the first to say, pointing at said fabric.

"Thanks man" Justin said easily.

"´Cause they look like they are all, wore out" He then smirked a little "Did you buy them like that?" He asked him, not once looking away from Justin´s pants.

"Ah... no. Just have them for a while" He replied, not stopping with his walk.

"Oh..." Owen said "Cool!" he gave him a thumbs-up "Stupid..." he muttered under his breath, looking away from Justin as he hit his own forehead.

"Hey, everyone. Izzy!" Chris announced, as the thirteenth and final girl of the competition was approaching the island.

Izzy was someone whose flaming red curled long hair was a perfect match for what would her soon to be revealed explosive, unstable, extravagant, energetic and happy-go-luck personality. Her bright hair stood out the most out of her presence, but that wasn´t to say that everything else wasn´t noteworthy. Her green eyes matched... everything else she was wearing, a green top and a long skirt of a lighter shade of the same color with a cut that covered a green short under it, all complemented with green shoes and green bracelets.

"Hi Chris!" She called from afar, when the boat finally reached the dock, she dashed out of her transport "Hi! Hi!" Unfortunately, when she was about to get off, she tripped, falling from the boat "Ah!" Her chin soon met the edge of the dock, before falling to the water.

"Ow... that was bad!" Tyler giggled.

Courtney and Isaac soon ran to the edge of the dock "Guys! She could be seriously hurt!" they both picked her up from the water with little struggled, mostly due to Isaac´s strength. As soon as she was on the wooden floor, Izzy dried herself like a dog that just got out of the bath, the water dripping from her and slightly soaking her two helpers. Courtney and Isaac looked at Izzy for a moment, checking for any possible injure she may have.

"That felt... so..." seeing at how she seemed to have trouble finding the words, both helpers grew a little bit worried, until "Good!" She was soon back on her feet like nothing had happened "Except for hitting my chin. This is summer camp?! That is so cool! Do you have Papier-mâché here? Are we having lunch soon?!" She was talking very much and very fast, there seemed to be no sign of her unwell in any way, so Courtney and Isaac were left mostly confused by Izzy´s antics.

"That is a good call!" Owen said.

"First things first. Or should I say, last thing last," Chris gave a quick wink to the camera "we ought to introduce our Final competitor of the show. Let's give everything we've got to **E** than!"

The final boy and competitor of the show was a young man with a imposing presence and a warm smile. He was every bit as big, tall and muscular as DJ, if not more so, his body sculpted over the years of physical activities he has performed ever since he was a little kid. His fair skin has slightly tanned over the years on the outside, with freckles over his round cheeks. His hair looked as healthy as the wood of a tree, its dark brown tone nicely contrasting with his big, round and bright green eyes. With the colors of the forest reflected on his titanic appearance, it was almost as if he belonged in the wild alongside every animal. He was wearing an open dark blue jock jacket with white sleeves, under it he had a striped t-shirt with the alternating colors of cyan and white and pale gray pants, the only warm color he was wearing was his pair of red all-stars. With a dazzling smile, the first of many, he hooped out of the boat.

"Hey Chris!" Ethan greeted, the volume and the energy of his voice could easily rival Owen's "I´m so excited to be here, man!" They soundly high-fived, Chris winced a little after their hands connected "Hey everybody! It's so nice to meet you! It's going to be so much fun with you guys here. Yeah! I can already tell this is gonna be a great summer!"

"Woohoo!" Owen cheered "Yeah! You're so right, man. I like you already."

"And I like you too, man. You know what I'm talking about!" Ethan and Owen high-fives as well "What about you, guys?" He then addressed the rest of the campers, specifically DJ "What do you say, big guy?"

"Ummm... Yeah?" DJ replied, not having expected to be put on the spotlight out of the blue "It's gonna be great, I guess?"

"We'll work on that spirit of yours" he said placing a hand in DJ's shoulder, he looked back at the host "So, when do we begin?"

"Eager, aren't we? I like that" Chris smiled "We will begin right after we get some pictures for the promos. Everybody at the end of the dock!" He commanded them.

Everyone did as they were told. They made a group pose so that everyone could be seen in the picture, with Isaac, DJ, Duncan, Tyler, Harold, Geoff, Heather and Ethan at the back; Lindsay, LeShawna, Eva, Justin, Owen, Noah, Trent, Gwen and Cody in the middle and Izzy, Bridgette, Courtney, Suzanne, Katie and Sadie, Lillian, Ezekiel and Beth in the front sitting on the dock. They looked at Chris, who has got on Ethan's boat to take a good angle to take a shot. Everyone was giving their best smile for what would be the beginning of their summer.

"Okay. In 1... 2... 3... Oh wait"

All their smiles faltered.

"Okay, forgot the lens cap" Chris clicked the bottom to remove the cap "Okay, hold that pose. 1... 2... Oh. No wait, card's full."

"Come on, man, my face is starting to freeze" LeShawna complained.

"Got it! Ok, everyone say: Wawanakwa!"

"Wawanakwa!"

As soon as they said those words, the wooden floor beneath them collapsed, sending everyone to the salty water. The picture Chris took was of them trying to resurface gasping for air and holding onto any wood to avoid diving again.

"Okay, campers, dry off and meet me at the Campfire Pit in ten!"

 _This_ was the beginning of their summer.

* * *

 _Total Drama **I** saac **S** uzanne **L** illian **E** than_

* * *

" _This_ is camp Wawanakwa" Chris began with his explanation to all the twenty-six campers, now all on the Campfire on the clearing of the Island, half of them sitting down on the stumps and the other half standing around them. They were all focused on Chris, much to his delight "Your home for the next twelve weeks.

"Some of you were confused about the installations when you got here, seeing as you were told this would be a Talent Contest. This is a Contest alright, but not a talent show. This is an Elimination Game you are all participants of. The campers sitting around you will be your cabin mates, your competition, and maybe even your friends. You dig?" The contestants were looking at each other with varying levels of interest, disinterest, smiles and glares, hopes in becoming friends and maybe something more and who they wish to send home right away. "Well you better do because in a few moments we will split you into two teams of Thirteen. Every three days, at the end of every challenge, one team will win a reward while the other will have to decide who to send home" The expressions of the campers turned into varying levels of worried frowns "The camper who manages to stay on Total Drama Island the longest, without getting vote off will win One Hundred Thousand Dollars!"

"Excuse me!" Duncan called out "What will the sleeping arrangements be? Because I'd like to request a bunk under her" He pointed a thumb to Heather, smirking wolfishly.

"They are not co-ed, are they?" Heather asked, pleading that it wasn´t the case.

"No" Chris reassured her "Girls get one side of each cabin and dudes get the other."

Lindsay raised her hand "Excuse me, Kyle? Can I have a cabin with the lake view since I´m the pretties?"

"Okay, you are, but that´s not really how it works here?" Chris explained, his smile leaving his face " _And_ it´s Chris."

"I have to live with Sadie or I'll die" Katie said as she room her Best Female Friend Forever for Life's hand, sounding dead serious.

Sadie nodded her head "And I'll break out in hive. It's true!"

Gwen looked very tired "This cannot be happening"

"Aww, come on guys" Owen said from behind her, taking her and Tyler into a friendly headlock "It will be fun. It will be like a big sleepover!"

"At least you don't have to sleep next to him" Tyler whispered to Gwen, jerking his head as much as he could to a direction Gwen followed with her view. She saw Duncan giving a defenseless deer a noggie. Gwen and Tyler looked back at each other.

"Here's the deal" The attention was focused on Chris once again "We're gonna split you into to teams" he explained, showing a paper sheet with all twenty-six names of the campers divided in two separated lists "If I call your name out, go stand over there" he pointed a finger at one end of the Campfire and without further ado, he started with the callings.

"Beth... Cody... Ethan..."

The Wanna-Be, The Geek and The Jock of all Sports began to move to where Chris has instructed them.

"Gwen... Heather... Justin..."

The Loner, the Queen Bee and the Eye Candy soon followed.

"Katie... LeShawna... Lillian..."

The Sweet Girl, The Sister with 'Tude and the Wallflower joined their new teammates.

"Lindsay... Noah... Owen..."

The Dumb Princess, The Schemer and the Crazy Party Dude sat up from their bumps

"And last but not least, Trent."

Chris called for the Cool Guy "From this moment on you´re officially known as..." He threw Lilly a big green rolled up flag, making her yell a little as she tried and managed to catch it, once it was in her hands, it unfolded itself down, revealed the image of a Gopher. "´The Screaming Gophers´!"

"Oh... I... like Gophers?" Lilly said, not really knowing what to make out of the name.

"Wait..." Katie wasn´t smiling "What about Sadie?"

"The rest of you, over here" Chris signalized the other end of the Campfire pit, completely ignoring Katie´s protests.

"Bridgette... Courtney... DJ..."

The Soulful Surfer Girl, The Type-A Force to be Reckoned with and the Brickhouse with Heart made their way to where Chris has told them to.

"Duncan... Eva... Ezekiel..."

The Delinquent, the Female Bully and the Home-schooled Guy did the same.

"Geoff... Harold... Isaac..."

The Funniest guy Around, The Dweeb with Mad Skills and the Square Nerd joined their new teammates.

"Izzy... Sadie... Suzanne..."

The Psycho Hose Beast, The Sweet Girl's Friend and The Anti-Blonde raised from their sitting spots.

"And finally, Tyler. Move, move move move!" he pressed their pace after calling for the Jock who Sucks at Sports.

"But Katie is a Gopher!" It was now Sadie´s turn to protest "I have to be a Gopher!"

"Sadie, is it?" Courtney asked, putting a gentle hand on Sadie´s shoulder "Come on, it will be okay" She assured her, as she guided to the rest of their teammates.

"This is so unfair! I miss you Katie!" Sadie cried.

"I miss you too!" Katie was at the verge of tears.

"You guys will officially be known as..." Chris opted for ignore the nonidentical twins engagement as he threw a red flag to one of the newly formed team, DJ, who unfolded it, revealing the image of a Bass "The Killer Basses!"

"Huh... well, this isn´t half bad" The Gentle Giant commented.

"Alright, campers" The attention was back to Chris "You and your team will be on camera in all public areas during this competition."

The Camera suddenly was showing static. This would be the method which will let know the audience there was going to be a Confessional segment "You´ll also be able to share your innermost thoughts on tape with video dairy any time you want" The host explained once the image came back, being inside what seemed to be a wooden outdoors toilet cabin. He was sitting in the toilet seat, surrounded by flies passing all around him. The smell must have been pretty bad, but he didn't seem affected by it in the slightest "Let the audience at home know what you´re really thinking. Or, just get something off your chest."

Many of the campers decided they had some thoughts they wanted to share in the confessional cam, something no elimination game would be complete without, after all, it would be easy screen time. However only a few would have their clips shown in the final episode.

"This is gonna be awesome!" Ethan turned out to be one of the lucky ones "An elimination game is still a game. And all games are my game! Bears of Vancouver, I´ll make you proud!"

The next clip was Gwen's, showing her wearing a deadpan expression "Mmmm... Okay... so far this sucks."

"I don't get it..." Lindsay said, facing away from the camera, unknowingly letting her well defined bottom in full display for the camera she didn't notice upon entering, which most likely was the reason her otherwise lacking segment made it to the episode "Where is the Cameraman?"

"Hey everybody, check this out. I have something very important to say." Said Owen, an uncharacteristic serious expression in his usually upbeat face that felt a little off. However, it soon vanished as he let out a sounding fart. He then giggled.

"This place really isn't so bad. We are already here, so we might as well make the most of it" DJ said with an easy smile, which then turned into a frown "Though I don't know if I can ever get used to the smell. Ufff!"

The screen was once again nothing but static for the briefest of moment, before it showed Chris once again "Any questions?" He didn't wait for an answer "Cool. Let's find your cabins" He led them to what will be their home for the rest of the summer "Gophers you are in the east cabin. Bass you are in the west."

* * *

Suzanne was the first one to enter the girl's side of the Bass's Cabin and it... didn't have much to say about it. Bunk beds, a heater that she could already tell it would not heat, a dressing table with a mirror so cracked she wondered how it didn't fall apart under its own weight, and wood everywhere, on the floor, on the walls and on the roof. All the source of natural light came from a dirty, cracked window with ragged curtains which did a better job at illuminating the inside than the hanging bulb at the roof. The nicest aspect within the cabin was the carpet, its design was awful, but she liked the colors. The substandard conditions Chris expected them to live where off putting; it would be for anyone really, but for her specially so, giving the accommodated live she was blessed to be born into. But, she told herself, she would manage. She figures these sleeping arrangements would be the least of her worries throughout this competition, and if something like this was enough throw her off her game, then she had no business in that island.

She stepped into her new house for all her stay on the camp. She quickly put her bags in the lower half of a bunk and watched as the other girls made her way into the small room. Sitting down in her bed with her legs crossed and one hand on her knee, a position she would be using more often than not, she put on her best poker smile "Home, sweet home, isn´t it, ladies?"

Bridgette was the second one to enter the cabin, and she quickly summarized her opinion on the place with a quick "More like home, stinky home" she said with a grimace, but quickly shrugged it off, her easy smile soon returning to her face as she placed her belongings on the bed of her choice.

It seemed she would adapt to her new home better than Suzanne would, or Courtney for that matter "Does Chris really expect us to leave in such a uninhabitable place?" She asked incredulously "I do not believe this place meets any basic safety standard for housing." She stated matter-of-factly.

"I don't know, seems pretty normal to me" Bridgette said "It really looks like something I would expect from a summer camp, if only a bit... Wore out?"

"Oh, Believe me. Contrary to popular belief, the standards for sleeping arrangements in camps require more scrutiny than conventional ones, not less. I would know, I was a CIT." Courtney explained, happy to show off her knowledge on the subject.

"Oh" Suzanne raised an interested eyebrow "Were you, now?"

"Indeed I was" Courtney closed her eyes in pride "So you can be sure that I will be a great asset to the team."

"What about instead of talking you prove it with doing" Eva said passing Courtney by.

"Oh I'll prove it! You just wait and see" Courtney exclaimed, at the same time Izzy popped her head from the door.

"Oh wow! Thus place looks awesome! Are those bunk beds?! I always wanted to sleep in one of those! Can we stay up all night?! Do you wanna have a sleep over?!"

Whatever other question she might have was cut short by one of Eva's fingers on her lips "Be. Quiet." Was all she needed to say to silence her teammate.

Finally. Sadie entered the room, her head hung over. She absentmindedly sat down in the only available lower half of a bunk bed, letting go of a heavy sigh.

"Sadie?" But Suzanne got no response.

"Don't bother" Courtney let go of a sigh of her own "She's been like that since Chris put her and Katie on different teams."

"Is she really so brought down over something like that?" The Girl in Sepia asked baffled.

"'Something like that'?" Sadie parroted, her head snapped up "You say it like is not the worst thing that could have happened!"

"You do realize that you could always be with Katie when we are not doing any challenge, right?" When Suzanne saw the confused expression on Sadie's face that told her that Sadie hasn't realized that, she elaborated " I mean, I seriously doubt that Chris would mind if you interacted with Katie most of the time, or any of us for that matter."

"I guess you're right" Sadie's face brightened a little "I just wish I didn't have to compete against her at all." She sighed once again.

Suzanne raised an eyebrow at her, Courtney rolled her eyes. Eva was uninterested. Bridgette looked at her a little bit concerned, and Izzy began to look for a door that would take her to another world where she would find her other mom.

* * *

"We are one bed short" Isaac said neutrally.

Their side of the cabin, as well as the girls side, only had three bunks, giving a total of Six beds for the seven male bass. Obviously, that would be a problem. The room was full in no time, but none of the boys tried to claim any of the beds.

"So..." Geoff was the first to talk "what do we do?"

"I say we go take a bed and whoever doesn't get one sleeps on the floor" Duncan stated "Simple as that."

"I don't know, man. Isn't that a little unfair?" DJ rubbed the back of his head "If someone can't perform well in the challenge due to not getting enough sleep, wouldn't that affect the team as a whole?"

"Then we just vote that person off" Duncan said simply "Problem solved."

"You wouldn't say that if you were the one who couldn't sleep well" Harold muttered.

"Got something to say, wimp?" Duncan sneered, raising a fist. Harold was silent after that.

"Maybe we could rotate so nobody has to sleep on the floor all the time" Geoff suggested.

"How do we decide who is going to sleep on the floor every night?" Tyler asked.

Geoff shrugged "I dunno, we could draw some straws?"

"Still, sleeping on the floor on the first day? Talk about a rough start on the competition" Tyler commented.

"I really wouldn´t have much of a problem with it, eh?" Ezekiel finally spoke "I can be the first one to sleep on the floor tonight."

"Maybe you don´t have to sleep on the wooden floor?" DJ spoke once again "Maybe we could make some sort of makeshift bed for the time being."

"We could try that" Geoff smiled, seeing how the newly formed Bass team was already working together "Anyone got any idea how we can make one?"

"I think we could ask Chris if there is any spare mattress or a the very least a spare sheet, doesn´t matter if it is an old one" Harold suggested "I don´t know about the rest, though, like pillows and a blanket."

"Maybe we could ask for several sheets?" DJ offered "We could fold them and place one on top of another on the floor, so it wouldn´t be so hard to lay on."

"We could use a couple of shirts in the same way, but as pillows" Tyler seemed to like DJ´s idea.

"That sounds like it could make a big mess, though" Harold countered.

Duncan decided that he might as well try to add his own two cents to the conversation "I think it would be easier to tie two extremes of the sheets to two opposing bunk bets like a hammock."

"I could tie the knots, eh?" Ezekiel found himself preferring Duncan´s suggestion "I think there is enough space in the room. But I don´t know how sturdy those beds are, nor it the sheets will be able of handling that much weight, eh?"

"What about you, Isaac? What do you suggest?" But Geoff was met with silence "Isaac?"

"Yes?" The voice of the Monochromatic Nerd came from the door.

"When did you leave?" Duncan raised an eyebrow at him.

"As soon as I noticed our shortage of sleeping arrangements" Isaac informed him "I asked Chris if there was something he could do about our situation and he gave me this" He then showed the unfolded sleeping bag of a considerable size to the rest of his teammates "He said this would be our temporary solution until one of us gets eliminated."

"Huh... Well I guess that takes care of the sleeping on the floor issue" Geoff slightly pulled up his hat "You still up for the shift tonight, Zeke?"

"´Zeke´?" Ezekiel looked at the Party animal confused.

"Yeah. You don´t mind if I call you that, right?"

"Would that be like a... nickname?"

"Ummm, yeah?" It was now Geoff´s turn to be confused.

"Oh!" Ezekiel smiled "Then no, I don´t mind. You can call me Zeke, all of you can, eh!"

"Nice" Geoff gave him a thumbs-up.

* * *

"Bunk beds?" Heather asked as soon as she opened the door of her Cabin "Ins´t this a little... summer camp?"

Gwen pushed past her, entering the room with a scoff in her face "That´s the idea, genius" she deadpanned.

"Shut up, Weird Goth Girl!" Heather shot back. In that same moment Lindsay entered the room, not one bit impressive with the place.

LeShawna entered next, rolling her luggage bag with her.

Beth was the next one, with one hand carrying her bag and the other holding one of Katie's, who looked every bit as saddened as Sadie was. All of the girls took settled down in one of the beds available.

"Ummm... Girls?" A weak voice came from the door frame, making all of the females in the room turn their gazes to find an uncertain looking Lillian "I... I don't have a bed..."

It was in that moment when her teammates took a real look at the cabin and realized that, what Lilly said was true. They, much like their Bass Male counterpart, were one bed short.

"They didn't even bother to make sure all of us would have a bed to sleep in?" Heather asked, more out of disbelief than out of concern for Lillian's situation "Unbelievable."

"How could they forget something as important as that?" Beth inquired, actually concerned about what to do for her teammate.

"Maybe they did it in purpose" Gwen stated, her frown deepening "I wouldn't put it past them. They already lied to us about this being a Talent show."

"Whatever the reason. We need to find out what to do with Lilly here" LeShawna said before turning to face said girl, a reassuring smile on her face "Say girl. You don't mind sharing a bed with someone, right? It would be a little bit cramped, but it sure is better than sleeping on the floor."

"Oh no no no, I don't mind" Lilly said with urgency "I'm already used to sharing a bed, so it's not big deal" she looked down "What's more important is if someone doesn't mind sharing a bed with _me_ "

"I sure don't mind" Beth raised her hand, missing the tone in which Lilly said the last part of her sentence "We can sleep in the lower half of a bunk so we don't have to worry about the bed collapsing while we sleep on it."

Beth's comment held more true than she intended, for the beds didn't seem to be the most stable furniture in the room, and even if they were, it wouldn't have meant much. The possibility of a bed falling on top of someone in the middle of the night certainly wasn't a pleasant one. Nonetheless, her intentions were well received.

"Thank you..." Lillian smiled weakly but sincerely.

All the girls saw first hand the interchange between Beth and Lillian, however only Katie was truly focused on it "If Sadie and I were on the same team, we wouldn't have thought twice before deciding to sleep on the same bed." She then sighed heavily.

None of the girls knew what to make of that.

* * *

"Wow there, little dude" Ethan put a hand on Cody's shoulder "Where do you think you're going? That's the girls' side of the Cabin."

Both boys were on the porch of the Gophers Cabin.

"I just wanted to check on the girls to see if they needed any assistance" Cody told him, then flashed his 'manly' smile "I figure they wouldn't mind if a man came in to help them with their heavy bags."

"I'm pretty sure they are capable of handling their own luggage" Ethan said with a raised eyebrow, not buying Cody's excuse to enter the female side for one second. He could already tell the Geek wouldn't even be well received there unless he was explicitly given permission.

"Then I can just have a chat with them" Cody said easily. Now there was no way he would let Cody go in the girls' room, Ethan thought as he put himself between Cody and the entrance to the female side of the cabin. The Geek, not noticing Ethan's warning, talked away "One of then specially caught my eye. She is definitely a charming one, being all dark and mysterious."

Justin, Trent, Noah and Owen were entering the male side of the Gophers one by one "Gwen?" Ethan guessed, still not moving one itch from his spot.

"The one and only" Cody nodded "There is something special about her, man. I can just feel it. You know what I mean?"

Lindsay came out of her cabin to call for Chris "Where are the outlets? I have to plug in my straightening iron" Gwen also left the room, already needing some fresh air from the cabin.

"There are some in the Communal Bathrooms just across the way" The host explained from afar, nodding his head to the direction of the Bathing Facilities.

"Communal Bathrooms? But I´m not Catholic" the Beautiful, Brainless Blonde said, hearing Chris but not understanding him.

"Not ´Communion´, ´Communal´" Chris explained, sounding just a little bit exasperated.

"It means we shower together" Gwen told her teammate, before looking away form Lindsay with a scold in her face "Idiot."

Both Cody and Ethan witnessed the exchange from their spot, the former looking at Gwen with a smile in his face and the latter looking at her baffled. _What´s her problem?_ "Ah... no, I don´t know what you mean" Ethan answered Cody´s previous question.

Lindsay took her time to let the information sink in, and when it finally did, she was not one bit pleased "Awww no come on!" She let out a high-pitched whine, making Gwen covers her ears and drawing the attention of the male Gophers.

Owen, alongside Trent and Noah in the door frame, looked a Lindsay with a surprised look "I´m glad We are in our own cabin with just guys. You know what I mean?" He tried to make a funny joke, only to be met with the guy's raised eyebrows "I mean no! I didn´t mean it like that!" Owen tried to save face when he heard his own comment "I love chicks I just don´t wanna sleep near them." Trent and Noah made their way back to the cabin, not interested in hearing any double meaning words the Lovable yet awkward Giant may add "I mean—!"

"It's ok, Owen. I know what you mean" Ethan came to rescue Owen from further making a fool of himself.

"You do?" The Lovable yet awkward Giant questioned.

"Yep" Ethan replied "This is just like when my team goes to a tournament and we stay in a fancy hotel or whatever" He explained as he put his bag in a available bed "This is going to be a perfect opportunity for us guys to bond as a team and as friends. The quicker we get in tune with one another, the quicker we'll blaze this competition."

"Y-yeah! That's totally what I meant!" Owen exclaimed, liking Ethan's little speech.

"So you are member of a sport team back home?" Trent asked the Brunette Giant.

"Captain of the Basketball Team!" Ethan declared proudly, pointing his thumb at his chest "It has always been my favorite sport ever since I was a kid. Though there really is no sport in my school I haven´t tried. Baseball, American Football, Track, you name it. I even tried for the Cheerleading Squat"

"Cheerleading Squat?!" Cody was amazed, looking at Ethan with the upmost admiration "Wow! You must have been surrounding by all kinds of hot chicks"

"Meh, I wouldn´t know" He shrugged dismissively.

"Impressive" Noah said in a tone that suggested he wasn´t one bit impressive. He was sitting down in the small bank in the cabin, reading his rather thick book, an eyebrow raised as always "I bet you must have also been an ace in the academic part of your school as well. You'd kind of have to be, to stay in a team and everything"

"Nah, it didn´t matter how hard I studied, I would always just barely pass the exams. I´ve always been kind of an Idiot" He said with the same proud voice as when he declared his position on the Basketball team, earning a weird look from the Brains of the team.

Justin wanted to add his own input to the conversation, but a high pitch scream could be heard throughout the Gophers Cabin, expanding to the rest of the camp. Ethan was on his feet in no time, dashing at an amazing speed to the source of the agonizing yell. It came from girls´ cabin. The Bear of Vancouver was already in the door frame when the nearby campers arrived.

"Oh man, that white girl can scream!" He heard LeShawna said, but he really wasn´t paying her any attention, as he was focused on Lindsay, who was cowering on the chair of the cabin, terrified of the incest crawling all around the floor.

"What is it?! Kill it! Kill it!" She cried desperately.

DJ, upon seeing the insect in the cabin, let out an unmanly scream and jumped into the nearest bed, crushing it under his great weight. He wasn´t trembling, but downright shaking of fear, oblivious to the damage he has unintentionally created.

"That was my bed..." Gwen said dejectedly.

All hell broke loose.

Some of the campers when straight for the kill, Harold and LeShawna trying to stomp on the bug as hard as they could, with the hideous creature being able to easily evade their attempts. Others decided to follow Lindsay and DJ´s example of getting as far away as possible from the bug, namely Heather, Beth and Lillian, finding refuge in the upper half of the bunk beds. Screams were drowning the air within the room. Duncan quickly noticed a fire ax inside the cabin. Shattering the glass with his bare fist, he took the weapon and when for the insect, having decided that the best way to deal with the little pest was to cut it in half.

He never got the chance to do it. The cockroach, which was probably more afraid of the campers than they were of it, was running away from all the stomping feet on the floor, until it was met with a shoe descending from above faster than it could turn away from the danger. The impact was hard enough to break through the wooden floor, the loud sound of wood cracking silenced all the cries. Ethan removed his shoe from the newly form superficial hole in the middle of the cabin, and found the cockroach splattered on one of the cracked pieces of wood, it wasn´t moving anymore.

"Well that´s one way to kill a cockroach" Gwen said with an amused smile.

"Awesome" Harold commented.

"Welp" Ethan was tapping the tip of his shoe on the floor "That takes care of that."

"Dude" Trent began "You just stomped open a hole in the cabin. Doesn´t your foot hurt?" He asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Meh, not really. I´m used to dealing with those little bugs, and I kinda have quite the heavy foot, so I barely felt a thing" He addressed everyone in the room "If you guys ever have any problem with one of those again, let me know," He looked directly a Lindsay when he flashed one of his smiles "I´ll take care of it" He pointed at himself with a thumb.

It was a small gesture, but it was all he needed to finally steal the Heart of the Beautiful Lindsay. Her eyes were sparkling, looking at him like the hero he was, having saved her from the little monster that was responsible for her terrible scream. She gave him her sweetest smile.

Duncan, still a little dejected that his thunder has been stolen, looked at Lindsay´s expression and rolled his eyes "They always go for the jocks."

* * *

"Listen up!" A powerful voice sounded from within the main lodge, the place were all the campers would eat their daily meals.

It was a simple enough building, with an entrance and windows that would serve as the main sources of illumination, inside there were two tables large enough to house up to twelve people, fourteen if they could endure having a meal in a cramped space, besides those, there wasn´t much to say about the completely utilitarian building. The campers were all forming a big single line, from the door to the Kitchen window were, standing in the other side, was a Rough looking man. Muscle bound, great height, intimidate frame, with a angry expression capable of rivaling that of Eva.

Chef Hatchet´s voice thundered once more "I serve it three times a day, and you´ll eat it three times a day. Grave your tray, get the food and sit your butts down, NOW!"

Intimidating did not begin to describe the feeling all the competitors were feeling by being this man's presence, specially Beth, Isaac and Harold, who were the closets to the kitchen window.

"Excuse me?" Beth began to speak, and she didn´t know whether it was out of bravery or stupidity, given the crystal-clear tremor in her voice as she talked to Chef "We´ll be getting all major food groups?" Chef simply put the food in her tray, and she wasn´t really sure whether he was answering or ignoring her question, but she decided not to risk and pray.

"Yeah," Harold wasn´t wise enough to follow her example "´Cause I get hypoglycemic real bad if I don´t get enough sugar."

None of them seemed to notice, Chef twitching eye, the sign that would have told them about the hair trigger he had (it couldn't be noticed due to the chef hat he was wearing, but he was bald) "You get a lot of shut the heck up!" he screamed, making both Harold and Isaac take their tray and room away to their team´s table, which unfortunately for them was the one closer to the kitchen. They still could feel Hatchet´s heated glared upon them.

"I´m not really sure about the nutritional value of this... food" Isaac couldn´t help but say, though he knew better and lowered his voice so he wouldn´t be heard.

"Have a cow" Owen commented to Noah and Ethan, earning smirks from the boys.

"What was that?" They all flinched when they heard Chef´s voice. He was signing them to come to the kitchen window "Come closer fat boy, I didn´t hear you." he sounded deceitfully calm.

The Blond Giant quickly took his food "Ah... I didn´t really said anything important" he nervously told the chef.

"I´m sure you didn´t. You, scrawny kid," he addressed Noah directly "Give me your plate."

He then provided for a double ration into the Brainiac´s plate, or at least intended to, given that the food moved back to his spoon. The chef, bullheaded as he was, put the same food ration into Noah´s plate, making sure it would stay in it for sure, ignoring Noah´s mortified look on his face at seeing such a bizarre occurrence.

Ethan was next in the line, and after receiving his sustenance without any inconvenience, gave the chef a quick "Thank you" which the chef acknowledged with a brief nod.

Next in the line where Eva, LeShawna and Lillian "Hey, what´s up, girl?" LeShawna tried to start a conversation with the female Bass, only to be met with silence and a sullen glare from the Iron Maiden, taking her aback and making Lillian covering behind her in fear. LeShawna quickly recovered and glared at Eva when she walked away with her tray "Oh it´s gonna be like that, is it?" she challenged.

"Next!" Hatchet yelled from behind, making LeShawna flinch and Lillian yell in surprise.

The serving went on without much complications.

"Excuse me," Lindsay halted, Suzanne next to her in the line and Gwen behind both "My nutritionist says I shouldn´t eat any white sugar, white flavor or, like, dairy" Hatchet was hearing but not listening, continuing preparing the food for the remaining campers.

"I don´t think that´s gonna be a problem" Gwen told her, looking down on her on tray, just in time to see it moving ever so slightly.

"Cool" Lindsay smiled, that was all it was needed to reassure her.

Suzanne was about to pick up her own when she heard Gwen once again "Okay, I hate to be predictable and complain on the first day, but I think mine just moved."

Hatchet slammed a kitchen hammer on her food, splattering some on her and Suzanne, who tensed instantaneously, her right eye was twitching. Fortunately, for Gwen at least, the food wasn´t moving anymore "Right, okay then."

She was about to move forward, when she saw the still form of the Blonde Bass frozen in front of her. Suzanne snapped out of her trance, took the food out of her face and threw it to the goth, as she saw her as the one responsible it got on her in the first place. Suzanne walked to her table with a now sour humor, ignoring Gwen altogether and thinking how much better she liked Gwen when she didn´t have anything to say.

The last camper was served their food, and everyone was sitting on their respective tables with their teams. It wasn´t a particularly nice meal, not only for the food itself, but for the limited space they had to eat. They eat relatively quietly, no one noticed the sloppy food that was moving freely throughout the floor, which was probably for the best.

"Welcome to the main lodge" Chris exclaimed as he entered the building.

"Yo, my man!" He heard somebody calling him. It was Geoff "Can we order a pizza?"

That soon proved to be a foolish move from Geoff´s part, as an ax knife flew right pass his head, barely missing his hat, and it impaled in the wall next to the door, though it wasn´t nowhere near to Chris as it was to Geoff.

"Wow! It´s cool, G!" The Party cowboy shouted nervously "Brown slop is cool! Right guys?" his chuckle was filled with tremor, as he tried to look for some sort of aid. If there was any doubt regarding Chef´s temper, it was now gone.

The host didn´t pay much attention to what just happened before him "Your first challenge begin, in one hour!" Chris announced before leaving as quickly as he came.

"What do you think they'll make us do?" Sadie asked DJ uncertainly.

But he just shrugged it off "It's our first challenge. How hard can it be?"

* * *

To say That DJ has just jinxed them would have been the understatement of the season.

Everything seemed to frightfully small from where they all were standing. The swimsuits that they were wearing mocked them with their bright colors, for they now felt as bleak as any mourning attire when they looked down from the biggest, tallest cliff on the entire island to the water that was even more far away from them than they thought it was, wherein awaited them a certain death.

"Oh... shit" DJ cursed. Those were the last words of the final episode, and probably his last words as well.

* * *

 **A/N:** This Chapter, as you have already saw, was mirroring the events of the first episode of canon. Almost to a ´T´ if I may add, with only a few added interactions among the teams before starting the competition. Part two would be the same but only in the first half, with even more original dialogue added and the first real divergence from canon occurring in that chapter, I understand that I might have said a bit too much with that, but it also might have baited you into looking forward for the next update (shameless cliffbaiting... how ´bout that shit?) and in the third chapter and onward the story will be will finally set itself apart from the canon with only a few yet important plot points from the original story line being the minority in this Alternate Universe narrative, and even so, said plot points will come with their fair amount of changes. So all I´m asking is for you to be patience with me.

I figured that if I was going to use mostly dialogue from the original, I might as well try and add as much descriptive writing as possible, as my writing style consists in, what I hope is, a balance mix of dialogue and description. And what better way to capitalize on this method of story-telling than to describe the characters? given that this episode was meant to be an introductory one, it seemed appropriate enough. I was going to need it when introducing the Original Characters anyway, but, from a narrative stand point, it didn´t sit well with me to introduce the Canonical Characters in a kind of rushed way while giving my original characters the privilege of a proper inclusion to the story.

Speaking of my OC, let´s stop beating around the bush and let´s address the four small butterflies in the room.

Isaac, Suzanne, Lillian and Ethan are, without a doubt, the biggest change from the original that there is going to be on this story line, and while it´s true they are going to be responsible for the bigger changes in the story, it doesn´t mean the story will be entirely about them, I trust myself to be above that sort of mistake, after all, it is said that OC´s exist to serve the stories, not the other way around, and it will be equally as good to see all the possible reactions the original twenty two characters are going to make in response to this changes, as well what they will do in return. I understand that they were not particularly fleshed out in this chapter, but they will, as soon as possible. Of that you can be sure.

In the mean time, given the little bits that I showed you this chapter, what do you think of my OC? both in General and about each and one of them?

I´ll be waiting for your response.

Until next time, see ya!

* * *

 **Originally Posted:** 12/04/2018

 **Update:** 12/10/2018. With this I hope I have cleaned up any error I might have made. But if you still find any, please feel free to point it out to me.


	3. Episode 2: Not so Happy Campers II

**Disclaimer:** See Prologue.

 **Zevoros** : Thank you for being the very first comment on this story! I´m glad to hear that, despite everything, I´ve managed to deliver a mostly well spelled story, of course, when you do find a mistake, please feel free to pointed them out to me. I figured going into more detail with the canon scenes would have helped to make the beginning of the story at the very least entertaining to read, good to see it has proven to be the right call, however, you won´t have to wait long before I start writing more and more original scenes. Isaac and Lillian, huh? Hopefully you will like what I´m going to do with them. Maybe they will make it far, maybe they won´t make it to the merge, maybe they will hook up with others, or with each other, or neither will. Who knows?! (besides me, of course) This story is not exclusively about them, though, hopefully you will like what I have stored for the rest of the cast. Thank you for your kind words!

 **LovelyLuly** : Those are some good ideas, who knows, maybe their are closer to what will happen in the story than you think? Anyway, I´m glad that all of my OC left an impression on you, and a good one, for the looks of it! And Awww, no love interest for Isaac?

Let the real fun start!

* * *

 **Episode 1 – Not so happy Campers, Part 2.**

* * *

The campers were standing at the edge of the world, fearing to step beyond the line, for they thought that the water below was a portal that would take them to the underworld, the afterlife, a place not in this world they really would rather not go to.

The cliff was high, unbelievable so, as in, they thought they could touch the sky, which far from amazing them, only made them even more aware of how far they were from the water of the ocean, the line that divided it from the equally blue sky was indistinguishable. It was quite strange the feeling most of them were harboring. Afraid of the heights as they were in, even if the fear itself was never something they have had a problem with before, yet unable to look anywhere but down, some of them even lingering dangerously close to the end of the cliff, seemingly ignoring the possibility of falling if they got any closer.

It was only when they heard the voice of the Host that they finally looked away from the edge of the cliff "Okay, today´s challenge in two-fold." Chris began "Your first task is to jump off this one-thousand-foot-high cliff into the lake."

"Piece of cake" Bridgette commented to Tyler.

But Chris wasn´t done "If you look down, you will see two target areas" Above from the cliff, the campers could clearly see a circle in the middle of the water, which was in turn surrounded by a much larger half-moon "The wider area represents the part of the lake that we had stocked with psychotic" Chris chuckled a little "man-eating sharks" As if on cue, the predators decided to made their presence known to what would probably be their meal, showing off their numerous sharper than razor teeth. Back to the top of the cliff, the camera showed us the expressions of the campers upon noticing the killer fishes, the all have various degrees of the same feelings of fear, panic and disbelief, all while Chris kept on talking "Inside that area, it´s a safe zone, that´s your target area, which we are pretty sure is shark-free" He added unhelpfully.

"Excuse me?" LeShawna asked, growing, much like everybody else, more and more uneasy at hearing the Host´s explanation of their first challenge ever.

"For each member of your team that jumps into the safe area, managing to survive, there will be a crate of supplies waiting below" In the beach below, there were large wood boxes resting on the sand "Inside each crate, are supplies you´ll need for the second part of the challenge: building a Hot tub!" The camera dashed back to give Chris a frontal shot "The team with the best one gets to have a _wicked_ hot tub party tonight!" He pointed at the camera to emphasize his point, and soon after, a view of the dock with an evening sky could be seen, some luggage bags were left in the middle of its wooden floor. "The losers will be sending someone home."

Chris allowed one moment for the campers to fully digest all the information he was dumping on them, that being, not an especially long one "Let´s see… Killer Bass, you´re up first!"

"Oh… wow…" Bridgette, who not so long ago smiled at the relatively easy challenge, now looked down the cliff with fearful realization of what was waiting for her down there if she decided to jump to what most likely will be hers and everyone else´s doom. She tried and failed to brush it off by asking her teammates with her easy-going smile "So, who wants to go first?"

In the final edition of the episode, there would be an added crickets sound to light up, if only by a little bit, the tense silence that answered Bridgette´s question. It was, after all, supposed to be a comedy show for the most part, a kid friendly series that was to be viewed by all the family in their comfy homes —something which will be called into question by all the competitors more often than not, as time passes and the true nature of what they have signed up for will be revealed—. But in that moment, there was no such cricket to make its characteristic noise, the silence ruled as the loudest sound and none of them could bare it. The campers were truly scared, so much so that not only they didn´t want to go and be the first one to jump, serving as an example of what to do for the rest of their comrades (or what not to do should things go badly), but they also feared that, should someone else go first, it wouldn't be enough to give them the courage they desperately needed to perform such a risky feat. Bridgette might have referred only to her team, but their feelings were shared by the Screaming Gophers as well, for they would also have to face the challenge eventually.

Owen decided to be the one to cut to the dense tension with some cheerful words "Hey, don´t sweat it guys. I heard that these shows always make the interns do these stunts first to make sure it´s survivable" Though whether he was trying to convince the others or himself was open for interpretation, it more of least got the results he wanted, as the other campers decided not to fall silent once again, as they figured what he said was most likely true, to an extent.

"So" Eva said "Who´s up?"

"Ladies first" Duncan looked at Courtney, who could only look back at him.

"Fine, I´ll go" Bridgette said, albeit somewhat reluctantly "It´s not big deal. Just an insane cliff dive into a circle of angry sharks" She was reading herself to jump when Isaac approached her from behind.

"Excuse me, Bridgette?" The atypical nerd began "If you don´t mind me asking, could you tell how much do you weight?"

The surfer raised an eyebrow at her fellow teammate, taken aback by the out of place and arbitrary question he just made "Ah… why would you need to know that?" she asked cautiously.

"Is the only piece of information I need in order to determinate how fast you should run before jumping, as well as the angle and trajectory you should have once you start falling, to ensure you will land in the middle of the target area, as far away as possible from the dangerous albeit fascinating creatures down the lake" Isaac explained matter-of-factly.

Bridgette was now down right weirded out by Isaac´s robotic answer, but decided to not make a comment about it. Despite his tactless question and awkward justification for said question, she could tell Isaac didn´t mean to offend her and actually tried to help her with the task in hand, so she decided to politely turn him down "Mmmm… it´s ok, Isaac, I think I can manage on my own" She turned to face the cliff again "Thanks anyway" It´s not like she thought she didn´t need any help, but if Isaac way of express himself was any indication, she figured she wouldn´t be able to follow the set of intrusions he was going to give her down to the last detail, or most of them anyway, resulting in a worst jump than what she would have managed following her own instincts. And plus, her weight wasn´t something she felt like sharing to Isaac, her fellow campers or the rest of the world.

Bridgette jumped off the cliff, dropping in a straight line to the waters with a naturally good form, diving gracefully and flawlessly into the middle of the safe zone. She swam back to the surface of the lake, an equally relieved and satisfied smile on her face. As the boat that would pick her up and the rest of the jumpers approached her, she waved to the rest of her team back at the top, inviting them to follow her example.

Which was something Tyler was much happy to oblige "She did it! Yeah! Yeah! I´m next!" He ran a few steps back to gain as much impulse as possible once he jumps the cliff.

"Before you do that, Tyler" Isaac began once again to try and give his assistance to his fellow teammate "I suggest you to—"

"Here I come!" Tyler yelled, completely ignoring the nerd "Cowabunga!" Tyler took dive, his posture as good as Bridgette´s before him, but his trajectory completely off. He didn´t hit the water at first, landing instead on a buoy tower that make up the safe circle. It was a hard hit, Bridgette couldn´t help but wince. Tyler let out a pained whine, before slowly descending into the water. Unfortunately, he wasn´t in the right side of the line.

This did not go unnoticed by Chris "The Killer Bass start the game with a good first jump and a not so good dive, so they only have one point so far."

"Wait, only one point?" Geoff asked, being the one closest to the edge next to Eva and Isaac "But two of us jumped!" He protested.

"Is not enough to just jump" The host explained a bit too cheerfully "Remember, I said that in order to gain a point for your team, you need to land INTO the safe zone. Tyler did not, so one point is all you got"

Isaac frowned at this. Looking down at the lake, he could see Tyler already getting into the boat next to Bridgette, having avoided the wrath of the killer fishes, for they weren't swimming near the zone at that very moment. "Bummer" Isaac turned to see it was Geoff who said that.

However, his smile soon returned to his face, thinking that they could still bounce back from this. He was the next to Jump, his initial fear long forgotten "Woohoo!" Geoff screamed joyfully in his descends.

Eva went after him "Look out below!" she yelled.

Duncan was next, his arms crossed and his face bored, seemingly unaffected by the rapid speed he was dropping dead.

Then went Isaac. Once he was in midair, he kept his arms at his side and maintained a standing position as best as he could, for he knew this was the safest way to dive from great heights.

They all managed to dive into the safe zone, Isaac being the second person to land right in the middle of it. None of this, however, serve to ease DJ´s mind about the situation he suddenly found himself in.

He looked down at the far away lake before turning away in fear, shaking his head "No way man. I'm not jumping."

"Scared of highs?" Chris asked him, his plastic smile was a give away that his sympathy was fake.

"Yeah, ever since I was a kid" The Brickhouse confessed.

"That´s ok, big guy" Chris began gently "Unfortunately, that also makes you a chicken" he quickly shifted back to his uncaring, smiling persona "So you have to wear this for the rest of the day" He said as he pulled off a yellow chicken-shaped hat with the intention to place on top of DJ´s head.

He didn´t have the opportunity to do so, though "Is that true?" Suzanne was the one who asked this time, her words seemed filled with genuine concern.

"Yeah, it is" DJ repeated, his voice was soft and weak "I´m sorry... I can´t do this, I just can´t."

"I understand if you are truly afraid. I am very fearful myself, so I can relate" Suzanne told him with a gentle smile, much different from the one she has been showing so far "But that is mostly true for the rest of out teammates, even the one that have already jumped."

"Really?" DJ had troubles believing that "They sure didn´t seem scare to me. Duncan and Isaac didn´t even seem faced at all" he pointed down the boat with the rest of the Bass on board.

"Oh they were scared alright" The Girl in Sepia told the Gentle Giant "If they weren´t fearful for their lives, far from being impressive, it would be a little bit disturbing. They just managed to overcome their fear, even if only for the sake of the challenge. It just so happens, that would prove to be more difficult for you and me."

"So that means we have two chickens on a row?" Chris suddenly butted in, pulling a second chicken hat from who knows where "Because in that case, you´ll also have to—"

"But," Suzanne cut him off, not really giving him the time of the day as she still focused on DJ "as a team, we all need to work together to win this challenge, as well all of those to come, that means putting aside our fear and do our best all the time. We need all of us to jump in order to stand a chance at winning."

"Ok, bro, bra" Chris interfered once again, his irritation managing to replace his characteristic smile with a frown "All this talk about teamwork and whatnot is nice and all, but we are on schedule here, so if you both could just put these hats on a leave so be can continue, that would be great" He really didn´t like being ignored, even more so than being behind schedule, but he tried not to let it be shown, not anymore than it already had, in any case.

Suzanne barely managed to not snap at the Host, who whether intentionally or not was making her job at convincing DJ into a suicidal jump harder than it needed to be. Her words, genuine as they were and holding as much true as they did, didn´t come across as naturally to her as one would expect. She was really good at expressing herself in a well articulated, polite and respectful manner when talking to people, but DJ wasn´t a senior to look up to or a junior to guide through, he was a peer. Someone who stood on the same level as her. Someone who, as far as everyone else was concerned, was her equal. As different as hers and DJ´s backgrounds may be, as she would later find out they were quite diametrically opposite, there was no denying that they were just that, backgrounds as far as the Competition was concerned, there was no disparity between them on the island. Suzanne tried her best to not come across as a condescending snob who looked at everyone below her nose —even if some of her camp-mates have already viewed her as such, if her first interactions with Duncan and Gwen were any indication; granted, she didn´t really make a good job at trying to prove them wrong, but hey, if they were allowed to shamelessly display their obnoxious traits (who headlocks a _deer_ and gives it a _noggie_? Who calls someone they just met an idiot?) then why couldn´t she let loose just a little bit?— so, after taking a deep breath and ignoring the host once again, she carefully chose her next words when addressing DJ.

"If you really can´t do it, then that´s ok, but please consider this" Suzanne tried once more "If you really can´t bring yourself to do it four your own sake, then do it for the sake of our teammates, I assure you they were thinking the same way" She pointed down to the lake "The fact that they are down there is proof enough."

DJ heard her, DJ understood her, but DJ didn´t humor her. He was still too scared. Even if he could somehow suddenly get over his fear of highs, what about his fear of water? Even if that wasn´t an issue, what if he didn´t hit the safe zone? what if he dived right next to a shark? He was obviously scared of being eaten alive but, you see, he was an animal lover. Scary as they were, there was no denying the sharks deserved every bit of his respect just like any other creature on this planet, and should he had to face one of those mighty marine creatures he would have to defense himself from them and defending himself implied… implied that he would have to hurt them! There was no way he could live with himself if he did such a thing to an innocent animal! He knew he had to jump, even if not for himself, then for the rest of the team but… but…

"Perhaps," Suzanne continue, seemingly reading his mind "an example would be a more convincing argument. Talking, after all, is cheap" she then walked to the edge of the Cliff.

"W-wait!" DJ called after her "What are you doing?!"

"I´m going to jump, obviously" She answered evenly.

"B-b-but didn´t you say that you were also scared?" he couldn´t help but raise his voice more than necessary "And that is was ok if I couldn´t do it?!"

"I did say that. But if the rest of our team were able to do it even though they were also afraid, I want to see if I can do it, too" She told him before looking down to the lake, and for the briefest of moments, her confident look dropped off her face. She quickly recovered, taking a deep breath and holding it in before jumping into the void.

"Wait!" DJ called for her, trying to reach out for her, but it was too late, she was already at the mercy of the gravity.

Suzanne felt weightless, her eyes were closed shut, expecting to hit the water at any moment, she didn´t have a good form while diving, but that didn´t affect her precision when she landed into the safe zone. She resurfaced, finally letting go of her breath. The previous jumpers, now in the boat that would take them to the beach, cheered for her. Suzanne looked back at the top of the cliff and upon seeing DJ was looking back at her, she waved her hand at him, hoping he would take the hint.

DJ couldn´t believe his eyes. She did it! And she was ok! DJ was still very afraid of what could happen himself, but maybe if he just took her example, he would be ok, too. It was hard for him not to think in all the things that could go wrong, but there was also a real possibility for thing to turn out right. He contemplated this idea as he saw Suzanne getting on the boat with the rest of their team.

"So" He heard Chris from behind him "what´s it gonna be, big guy?"

"Can I…" DJ gulped, taking his eyes off the lake to address the host "can I be the last one to jump?" He asked uncertainly.

"Nope!" Chris smiled unsympathetically "It´s now or never."

DJ figured as much. He looked back at the lake, having one final debate with himself about whether to jump or not to, until he faced away from the cliff, walking away with his head hung down.

"That's a shame" Chris taunted, his plastic smile not leaving its place on his face. He put out the same chicken hat from his back "Hey, big guy. Aren't you forgetting some—"

He didn't get to finish his sentence, DJ dashing past him with a war cry. Before he knew it, Chris saw the Gentle Giant jumping into the shark-infected lake.

As soon as DJ was airborne, his mighty roar soon faded into a fearful cry, his mind once again filled with all the dreadful possibilities his recklessly made decision may have. Unable to face the fate that waited for him in the water, DJ covered his eyes. Finally, his great form caused an potent splash, managing to soak, more than they already were, all the people in the boat near him. Some bubbles formed in the surface of the lake, before DJ himself emerge from the water gasping for air.

"W-wha—?" He said dumbfounded, looking at his surroundings, instantly seeing he was inside the safe zone "I did it!" He cheered "I´m alive! I´m alive!"

"Well done, DJ!" Suzanne´s voice stood out among the cheers of her peers. She closed her eyes, continuing on smiling "I knew you could do it" she opened her eyes again, only to see that he wasn´t in the water anymore "DJ?"

DJ was next to her (when did he get out of the water?) crawling on the floor, repeatedly kissing the wooden surface of the boat "Oh stable ground, how much I´ve missed you" He kept on kissing the stable ground he was in "I´m never, ever, leaving you again, nor will I ever jump that insanely high cliff again" one more kiss "Ever" then he kissed the floor of the boat some more.

Suzanne, or any of the other passengers for that matter, didn´t know how to response to that, so they only stared at DJ as the boat took off to the beach.

"Well, what do you know, he actually did it" Chris said from the top of the cliff "Kinda hoped he didn´t, I would have loved see one of them wearing the hat..." He said low enough to not be caught by the camera "Anyhow, It´s time for the next jumper to come forward!" He quickly announced.

The next one turned out to be Ezekiel who, after taking a moment to prepare himself, jumped from the cliff with sound excitement "Yeehaa!" he´s excitement or his form did little to save his accuracy, for he hit a rock that stood out from the frontage of the cliff, making him spin around all his way down, but it would turn out to be for the best, for; as painful as that was, that richochet was what Ezekiel needed to fix his trajectory, sending him in a comfortable spot in the safe zone and as far away from the deadly fishes. He hit the water, and once he resurfaced, seemingly without much injure, he was greeted by the cheers of his teammates now in the land, to which he returned a thumbs-up.

"Yes!" Harold yelled before diving into the lake with his legs separated into a perfect split "WOW!" As cool as it looked, and it looked very cool, mind you, Harold didn´t thought about what would happen to him once he hit the water in that position. Needless to say, once it happened, Harold´s cheerful yell turned into a sound, painful scream, for his nether regions landed flat on the even surface of the ocean. His teammates, male and female alike, recoiled at the sight. His screech echoed within the woods of the island, scaring off some of the wildlife, making some birds fly away from the possible danger that loud sound might have signified. Even the sharks winced in sympathy. Harold, sinking into the lake, held his family jewels, letting once last moan before being swallowed whole by the water. If it was any consolation, he landed into the safe zone.

"Oh... hate to see that happen" Chris said with joyful insincerity.

"Excuse me, Chris" Courtney said after looking down the lake in a contemplative manner "I have a medical condition."

"What condition?" Chris asked. He doesn't recall any of that on Courtney's Bio.

"A condition that prevents me from jumping off cliffs?" she said matter-of-factly, though Chris couldn´t help but notice how it seemed to come off as more of a question.

"You can chicken out if you want" Chris said disinterestedly, a smug smile on his face indicated he didn´t believe her one bit "But it may end up costing your team the win, and then they´ll hate you" He added the last part as if to dare her to jump.

"It´s a calculated risk" Courtney didn´t take the bait "I´ve seen the other team, and I don´t think ten of them will jump." as if to emphasis her point, the camera showed a shot of the Gophers, none of them seemed to eager to make a response to her insulting comment.

"Alright, here´s your chicken hat" if anything else, Chris was happy he finally got to put one those thing on a camper´s head, specially one as up-thigh as Courtney "So, let´s tell ya the results" Chris said he pull out a table board, probably from the same place he kept all those chicken hats "Hold on, that´s ten jumpers, one of which is void, and one chicken. We´re missing two."

"I´m not jumping without Katie!" Sadie declared, holding onto her Best Female Friend Forever For Life´s hand for dear life.

"He have to be on the same team, Chris!" Katie pleaded, fearful that if she let go of Sadie´s hand, she would disappear from her life forever. On the side line, Izzy was watching the scene unfold with uncharacteristic quietness.

"Please!" Chris couldn´t tell which one of the girls said that "Please! Can we?" not that it mattered who was saying what, as the voices of the sickly inseparable girls started to converge into one big mess of seemingly endless pleas "Can we? Can we? Can we?"

"I´ll switch places with her" Izzy finally said, raising her hand to gain everybody´s attention.

"Alright! Fine!" Chris said with great irritation, it has been the longest his fabricated smile has been absent from his face, replaced with his deepest frown yet "You´re both on The killer Bass now! Izzy, you are on the Screaming Gophers!"

The Redhead all but shrugged, not really caring about the change. If anything, she welcomed it, this gave her the opportunity she needed to find the secret door that would let her to the other world, seeing as she didn´t find it on the female side of the Bass´s cabin. In the chance that she doesn´t find on the female side Gophers´s, then she just would have to try her luck on the male side of either cabin, she thought as she made her way to her new team, all while Katie and Sadie celebrated a victory bigger than the cliff they were about to jump off.

"Yes!" They shouted together.

"That means you're up, girls!" Chris announced.

"We are coming Killer Bass!" They cheered as they held hands, running together to the edge of the world. They jumped, staying together all the way down, hitting the safe zone together.

"Ok!" Chris began "So that´s Eleven points out of Thirteenth. Screaming Gophers, if you can beat that, we´ll throw on a pull cart to put your crates on."

"Nice!" Trent smiled at the prospect "Ok guys, who´s up first?"

Unfortunately, it seemed no one on the team seemed to share his enthusiasm.

"I´m sorry" Heather said, breaking the silence "There is no way I´m doing this" She said with a finality that didn´t allow for discussion. That took all of her teammates by surprise, looking at the Queen Bee with various degrees of disbelief. It was true that they all were scared, even after seeing the Killer Bass performing this outrageous task and coming out of it (mostly) safe and sound. But there was something about the score to surpass, about now _having_ to jump in order to win, which made their option of chickening out kind of not an option anymore, that made them feel the same uneasiness all over again. The fact that one of their own blatantly decided they were not going to cooperate, without so much as to putting thought or consideration into it, when it was clear they all needed each other in order to stand a chance well, it really didn´t do much to improve the morale of the Green team.

"Why not?" Beth finally asked curiously.

"Hello? National TV? I´ll get my hair wed" Heather explained as if was the most obvious and valid reason not to help her teammates. Obvious? Well yes. Valid? well...

"You are kidding, right?" Gwen raised an eyebrow, not really wanting to hear the most likely answer Heather might give her.

Lindsay saw an opportunity there "If she is not doing it, I´m not doing it" She declared, eyeing Heather with a accomplice smile, one which Heather gladly returned. The gesture didn´t hold up for much, as she heard someone talking to her from behind, not sounding one bit happy.

"Oh, you´re doing it."

Heather turned to see it was LeShawna who said that "Says who?" she challenged.

"Says me!" LeShawna shot back "I´m not losing this challenge ´cause you got your hair did, you spoiled little daddy´s girl!"

The rest of the campers sensed a big storm coming, and, not being any sort of storm chaser, none of them wanted to be near it when it takes place, Lindsay carefully taking some steps back in fear upon seeing the sudden change of demeanor of LeShawna, and Lillian trying to find refuge behind the boys of her team. Bravery and foolishness tent to be divided by a paper-thin line, and Heather and the rest of the Gophers had opposing opinions regarding which side she stood on when she decided to take LeShawna head-on "Back off, Getto-glamour, too-tight-pants-wearing, rap-star wannabe!"

LeShawna was NOT going to be walked on "Mall-shopping, ponytail-wearing, teen-girl-reading, peeking in high school prom queen!"

Heather was silent for a single beat, until she came up with a response she knew was going to give her the last word "Well, at least I´m popular."

Gwen looked at them in shock. Cody looked at them in concern. Lillian looked at them in fear. Noah looked at them in amusement. Justin looked at himself in the mirror.

"You are jumping!"

"Make me!"

That could be arranged.

LeShawna picked up Heather as the weightless little thing she was well over her head and threw her to the far below lake without so much as a iota of hesitation.

Heather screamed helplessly all her way down, due to her awkward position she wasn´t even able to see the water, or whether she was going to land in the safe zone or not, making her fall of grace all the more scary.

She hit the water and didn´t waste any time in swimming back to the surface, splitting some water she inadvertently swallowed "LeShawna!" she said as soon as she caught her breath, raising her voice so she could be heard from below the cliff "You are so dead!"

"Hey, I threw you into the safe zone didn´t I?!" LeShawna replied as if that clarification made all well and good, she then added to herself "Now I just hope I can hit it, too." then she jumped too. She screamed, too, and she landed on the safe zone, too, innocently smiling at a still glaring Heather.

"I thought this was going to be a Talent Contest!" Lindsay pleaded desperately.

Chris Chuckled "Yeah" then he chuckled some more "No" he deadpanned.

Lindsay jumped, screaming all the way down with her arms and legs swinging erratically.

Then went Gwen, yelling as well, but with a more stable form in her way down.

Next was Cody, his fall was in a similar fashion as Lindsay´s

Lillian followed suit, she, much like DJ, covered her eyes in fear, letting a high pitch scream out.

Izzy, unlike her teammates, was not afraid, her body was fully extended as she couldn't wait to finally hit the water.

Justin´s drop was gracious and his form was perfect, his fully extended arms imitating the wings of a swam. Showing not fear or excitement, but rather a calm confidence in his way down, Justin´s dive was almost perfect.

Almost being the operative word, for none of the good qualities of his jump could change his awfully off trajectory.

His teammates shouted him to swim to the boat as fast as he could, fearing for his safety, How fast he could have swam, they would never get to know, for he has received their warnings a bit too late and by the time he realized he wasn´t in the safe zone, the shark already were behind him. They opened their humongous jaws to devour their easy prey, only for them close them just as fast, suddenly getting a full view of what, of who their prey was.

Even the animals were able to view Justin as the sight to behold that he was. The water drops ripping from his gorgeous form were so naturally beautiful, it seemed Justin was meant to be in the water, as there no other way to get an opportunity to view what seemed to be a magnificent yet estrange creature that can only come from the water realms. The sun shone upon him, its beam reflecting on the water on his body, the marvelous view now had a dazzling edge, for it seemed that Justin himself was shining.

There was no way they could eat him, was the only cohering thought the now infatuated creatures had, to take away something, someone such as Justin from the world was a sin none of the marine creatures could be burden with. Instead, one of them allowed him to hop up on top of its body, a eagerly transported him to the land safe and sound and Justin, wearing an expression that indicated this was the reaction he was expecting, simply hopped off the for now docile creature.

 _Well,_ many thought, without the context of the event they just witnessed, _that just happened._

"I..." Beth was having a hard time finding the words "I can´t do it... I´m too scared" Chris pulled out a chicken hat, not bothering to show Beth any sign of sympathy "I´m sorry!" she raised her voice, looking at her teammates.

Down in the lake, LeShawna and Cody were taunting her, not really helping the situation at all. Next to them, Gwen at least had the courtesy not to make fun of her obviously scared teammate, but whether it was out of sympathy or simply not finding the point in do it so, that was up for debate.

"That is like, so lame" Lindsay looked at Heather next to her "Right?"

Heather had her eyes glued to the farm nerd on top of the cliff, Beth was the one to question Heather why she wouldn´t jump that insane mountain, and yet she was the first one to chicken out? "Fully lame" Heather added without hesitation.

"That´s..." it was in that moment when both girls realized Lillian has been standing in the beach next to them the whole time "not a very nice thing to say" she tried to say with as much strength and conviction as she could mused, which was to say, not much.

Heather scoffed, not dignifying Lillian´s statement with an answer. Lindsay looked at the shrinking violet in confusion, trying to figure out what her words meant.

Back to the Cliff, Chris was once again about to give away one of those humiliating hats when another camper decided to spoil his fun "That´s a pretty scary cliff to jump, isn´t it?" Ethan spoke for the first time since the challenge begun, looking down at his small and feeble teammate with a gentle smile.

"You can say that again" Beth weakly voiced before looking again down at the cliff.

"That´s a pretty scary cliff to jump" Ethan said again "It´d be really hard to jump from such a great high" his smile didn´t leave its place on his face, but his eyes hardened before adding "Hard, but not impossible. You can do this, Beth."

"Easy for you to say..." the nerdette couldn´t help but argue back "You probably do this kind of crazy things back home."

"True" the Giant akin to a brown bear admitted easily "But it wasn´t easy for me at the beginning, you know? I was pretty scare, too. But I managed to overcome my fear, and I´m pretty sure you can do it as well." He placed a big, rough and calloused hand on the small, soft and fragile shoulder of his teammate, the disparity between them in size couldn´t be ignored at all.

"Oh come on, people" Chris groaned in the background "We are on a schedule here! Are we seriously going to have another inspirational speech?" He asked rhetorically.

"Yes, we are!" Ethan flashed the host a thumbs-up, earning an eye-roll from Chris.

"I... I don´t know..." Beth should have felt inspired with the encouraging words of Ethan, she knew that. His sheer presence was irradiating confidence, positiveness, will-power, and a long etcetera of things she wasn´t projecting right now... but, if she was really being honest with herself, she couldn´t help but feel pressured than anything else... it was kind of intimidating. She was pretty sure that was not Ethan´s intention at all, it was most likely just her not having the right attitude at the moment, the attitude of being more than eager to help out her team now that they needed her the most, specially considering they were already a point short, due to the fact that Justin landed outside the safe zone —unharmed, that´s it, something she was really grateful for— but she was pretty sure no one on her team would hold it against him should they lose, but they already showed her she wasn´t going to have the same kind of forgiving treatment. She felt a little bit self-conscious all of a sudden.

"I wasn´t able to perform all those risky feats by myself, you know?" Ethan told his fellow brunette, as if reading her thoughts "I had my dad and my coach to helped me throughout many of the stunts I did when I was a kid, I wouldn´t be where I am today without them. They helped me to see most of the sports I wanted to try weren´t as tough as I made them out to be, so maybe I can be the help you need to see this is not as hard or terrifying as you think it is."

"You´re talking as if you have jumped off from cliffs to a lake full of angry sharks before" Noah said with his arms crossed.

"Been there, done that" Ethan, either not noticing the sarcasm or ignoring it, responded Noah´s comment dismissively, not looking at the raise eyebrow he earned from the Bookworm "What I´m trying to say, and really I mean it, is that you can do it, Beth! And I know you know it, deep inside you, you just have to convince yourself, all I´m doing is trying to help you do that" He said with a warm, friendly yet fierce determination, Beth could not help but to believe him.

"You... you really mean it?" The Wannabe asked hopefully, a new sentiment she couldn´t quite describe with words has awaken within her,

"Of course I do!" The Bear of Vancouver assured her "Beth, this is the first challenge, the beginning of the Competition, tough as it may be. _This_ is the moment where we found out if we either go big or go home. Do you want to go home?" He asked her with the upmost seriousness.

"No" Beth answered, the hesitation all but vanished forever ago.

"Of course you don´t wanna go home. You want to go big, right?"

"Yes, yes I do!" Beth exclaimed.

"But to go big, you need to give it your all. Are you ready to give it your all?!" Ethan raised his voice.

"Yes I am!" She threw her hands to the heavens above.

"Are you ready for the competition?!" He roared like the mighty titan he was.

"Yeah!"

"Are you ready to jump this insanely high cliff to a lake full of angry sharks that are gonna kill you the second they get a chance?!"

"Yeah! Wait what—?"

"Then let´s do it!" Ethan shouted once more.

Before new thoughts of doubt and fear and hesitation could reform in her mind, before she realized it, before she could voice any sort of protest, Beth found herself being easily carried bride style in the powerful arms of the Bear of Vancouver, who was running at top speed to the end of the world.

"Wait—I need time to mentally prepare myself—!" by the time she finished her pleading sentence, Ethan had already jumped to the void. Both brunettes, with their weight combined, were dropping dead speedily.

"Woohoo!"

Ethan´s enthusiastic cheer and the wind speed were more than enough to cover Beth´s horrified but muffled gasp, as if she was unable to outright scream —which was exactly the case, as she would later reveal to the Blue Jock— Time seemed to slow down and Beth, not having the nerve to look at the ever nearing lake, closed her eyes shut, wanting to land on the water already so she would finally stop falling, yet hoping not to reach the water in fear she would land right next to a killer fish. Her contradictory thoughts and pleas came to a stop when they both hit the water, creating quite a splash as a result. First some bubbles appeared on the surface, until Beth finally emerged from the water, gasping for air.

"Wha—?" after realizing she was in the middle of the safe zone, a great relief, an intense joy and an immense gratitude overcame her all at the same time "Oh my Gosh! We did it!" she exclaimed with great emotion, her characteristic smile was back on her face "Ethan, we did it! we are alive!" she exclaimed to her teammate, only to see he hasn´t resurfaced from the water just yet "Ethan?" she looked around her, hoping to find him elsewhere inside the safe zone, because she really didn´t want to find him outside of it, but time was passing and the male Gopher didn´t show any sign of coming back to the surface. Fearing the worst, Beth´s smile has once again abandoned her face "Ethan?!"

As if hearing her call, much to Beth´s immediate relief, the Brown Bear appeared from the ocean right next to her. After spitting out some of the salty water he has inadvertently swallowed, he looked back at her, smiling as usual "Told ya you could do it" there was a certain knowing tone on his voice, but Beth was just happy for the good way the events have turned into.

"Y-yeah... I guess you were right" she suddenly felt a little bit flustered for some reason.

Ethan pulled a pair of glasses out of the water "I think you lost these."

"What?" Beth brought her hands to her face, and after finding nothing there, she felt even more bashful when she realized those were her glasses Ethan was handing her "Oh, gee... thanks" the ´th´ sound in thanks sounded tonged out, even for Beth standards, and she knew that, she only hoped that Ethan didn´t as she was taking her glasses back.

"You´re welcome" thankfully, it seemed he didn´t. Turning at his back, Ethan spotted the boat coming to pick them up "Let´s go, our ride has arrived" He started to swim at their transport.

"Y-yeah" she followed him suit.

"They did it" back in the cliff, Chris didn´t sound as excited as maybe he should have been, if only for the sake of the camera "about time" he muttered under his breath "Ok, who´s up next?" he asked the remaining Gophers.

"Let's do this!" Trent give Owen a High five of encouragement before jumping himself "Yeah!" He screamed all the way down, his enthusiasm being well rewarded, having landed right in the middle of the safe zone "Woo!" he exclaimed as soon as he resurfaced.

"Finally, someone who can do things quickly" Chris smiled once again, then looked back at the

"So..." Noah began, the same bored expression on his face all the others campers were going to grow familiar with "Am I really doing this?" he asked rhetorically.

"If you want to give your team the point, then yeah, you kinda have to" Chris said sardonically.

"You know, when I signed up for this competition, I was expecting something more fit for my smarts, since being smart is the one thing I am really good at. I really did not expect... any of this" The Schemer waved his arms around to emphasis his point.

"Pretty sure no one did, which is why we went for this surprise to start the competition" The host smiled sincerely this time, but wasn´t necessarily a good thing "Awesome idea, right?"

"Yeah, throwing everybody off their game before it even began, awesome idea indeed" Noah said in a tone that indicated he dind´t think it wasn´t indeed a good idea.

"We really don´t have much time left to be wandering around the place" Chris dropped his fake smile for a moment "So if you could either jump already or wear the chicken hat and be on your merry way, that would be great."

Noah just sighed "Fine, guess I´ll die" he said flippantly.

"Really? Are you serious right now?" Chris asked in slight disbelief "You are about to participate in the show that will make you famous all around Canada, and this is the attitude you are having?"

"Yeah?" Noah Shrugged.

"You are not very enthusiastic, are you?"

"Whatever" Noah said, effectively ending the conversation before taking his insanely high dive. It went as well as any other, landing next to Trent.

Chris wasn´t sure what he dislike more, Noah´s general attitude, the fact that he has got the last word on their little engagement, or the fact that once again a camper has unnecessarily dragged things for way too long, (or, most likely, a combination of all three) it was getting redundantly redundant. It was true he could just edit it out, which wasn´t to say it was something he was very fond on doing, due to the editing process was a long and costly one, and simply leaving some things out wasn´t as easy as it sounded, and even if it was, that didn´t change the issue of the thigh schedule they had in the present moment. There were already a few things here and there he knew were definitely going to go in order for the final episode to go smoothly, such as Suzanne and DJ´s little (read long, at least for Chris´s taste) conversation, but he was having doubts about whether he could do the same for Beth and Ethan´s, given that, without it, the audience wouldn´t have the context they needed to know why they jumped together. As for Noah... he decided that leave his jump out altogether, after all, jumping off a cliff certainly didn´t match very well with a supposedly intelligent but definitely lazy person, a shot of him on the water to prove he has indeed jumped, but that would be all. _Serves him right for giving me attitude_ , thought Chris in a matter that certainly did not resemble that of a petulant child that didn´t get his way, like, at all. Honest.

As he was pondering about how this episode would play out, he noticed that there was now one camper left, and given the current score of both teams, it was going to be the decisive point the Screaming Gophers needed to win the first part of the challenge. Now, he could tell all of this to the only camper left and him alone, buuut he decided that it would be more dramatic to build up the tension let this information known to the rest of the competitors. And he Decided to use a mega horn so all of them could hear him crystal clear.

Now, he could try to be nice and cut some slack to the obviously nervous teen boy next to him, buuut he would be lying if he says there was no pressure, when there obviously was.

If anything else, Owen did have the support of his fellow teammates, who all have jumped, and he couldn't help but feel that he owned them at least try. Justin might have missed the safe zone, but he dived, and Beth might have needed a greater amount of encouragement, but she jumped, sorta.

"I was pretty darn nervous" Owen would reveal in the confessional outdoors "See, the thing is, I´m not that strong a swimmer."

"I´m looking at this guy and thinking, there´s no way he is gonna make it" Geoff said, a smile that didn´t match very well with the situation at hand.

"I actually thought, if he jumps this," Gwen began with a worried expression on her face, only for her to deadpan "he is gonna die."

Back in present time, Owen was puttinf on a pair of arm floats, before taking deep breaths in order to calm himself down. Being ready as he'll ever be, the blond Giant took a few steps back.

"Take a good run at it, buddy. You can do this" Chris cheered from behind.

"Come on, Owen! You got this!" Ethan voiced from the beach, only unlike Chris, he didn't need a mega horn to be heard.

"I´m going to die now," Owen stated in defeat "I´m going to freaking die now."

The Screaming Gophers and the Killer Bass looked at the top of the Cliff expectantly, wanting to see whether Owen will do what many before him have done, proportioning his team the point the needed for the win, or if he will be the second person in the camp to chicken out, taking away the advantage that could be decisive in the next part of the challenge. Suffice to say, both teams were expecting different outcomes.

"Come on, big guy" LeShawna urged from the peanut gallery down the beach.

Time was passing and both teams growing more and more sure that the giant was going to chicken out, causing the Screaming Gophers to feel a sentiment that greatly contrasted with the one the Killer Bass were having. Owen's nerves were fluctuating from great encouragement to fearful doubt, starting but not ending a cycle that repeated itself on his head over and over again. Always thinking he could do this, only to remind himself about the dreadful possibility of missing the safe zone, even if shouldn't be that hard to hit considering the good amount of space Owen could cover, maybe, if he hits the center of the safe zone, he would be able to squarely occupy the whole zone all by himself! Ha ha ha! Oh wait, the safe zone is a circle, right? So maybe not squarely, but 'circlely'? He he he...

Ah... That... That helped to light up the mood, even if only by a little bit.

With his resolve at all times high, Owen steeled himself before it shrinks again. With a mighty roar, Owen dashed to the edge of the cliff, after jumping as high as he could, he found himself airborne.

"Oh Crap!"

It was that moment that all confidence had completely abandoned him, but at that point there was nothing Owen could do to regret it, for better or worst and ah no... Ummm, nope, there wasn't a good joke to light up the mood anymore.

"AAAHHH!"

Despite his helpless screams and the fact he was dropping like a cannon ball, Trent and Noah smiled happily at seeing that Owen at last decided to jump, and there was no denying he was going to hit the safe area, judging by the fact that he was exactly above them, and he was going to land right where their were. Their smiles disappearing from their face was the telltale that they have realized a little to late that they shouldn´t have stayed on the water.

The mightiest splash that ever going to be recorded on the series occurred, creating a mini tsunami that send the boat to the shore of the beach, all the campers were knocked over from their feet, soaking wet once again after being hit by the wave, though they were laying all over the sand without much injured. Someway, somehow, a shark was hanging on top of a tree nearby after being ejected from the water.

"Yes!"

They all looked back at the lake. "Yeah! Oh Yeah! Who´s the man?!" Owen exclaimed from the safe zone. He was all well and good.

"Woo-hoo-hoo!" Beth cheered.

"Yes!" LeShawna celebrated.

"I knew you could do it!" Ethan exclaimed.

"The winners: The Screaming Gophers!" The voice of Chris was heard throughout all the beach thanks to his trusted Mega Horn.

"That was awesome, dude!" Trent prized his teammate, the joy tripping from his voice. He paused once he saw Owen gazing all over the water, as if looking for something "What´s wrong?"

"I ah... think I lost my bathing suit..."

* * *

 _Total Drama **I** saac **L** illian **S** uzanne **E** than_

* * *

After covering a good distant, Lillian began " _99 Bottle of Beer on the Wall... 99 Bottles of Beer. If one of those bottles should happen to fall, 98 Bottles of Beer on the Wall..."_

Then, she grew in confidence and volume...

 _98 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,_

 _98 Bottles of Beer._

 _If one of those bottles should happen to fall,_

 _97 Bottles of Beer on the Wall._

Ethan and Beth, the ones closest to her, soon listened to her and decided to join her.

 _97 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,_

 _97 Bottles of Beer._

 _If one of those bottles should happen to fall,_

 _96 Bottles of Beer on the Wall._

The song in no time spread across every member of the green team.

 _96 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,_

 _96 Bottles of Beer._

 _If one of those bottles should happen to fall,_

 _95 Bottles of Beer on the Wall._

The Screaming Gophers were joyful, carrying their crates on the pull carts they were awarded for winning the challenge.

 _95 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,_

 _95 Bottles of Beer._

 _If one of those bottles should happen to fall,_

 _94 Bottles of Beer on the Wall._

It was a great start of the competition, and even though there was one more task at hand, they had a pretty good gut feeling they will be able to pull it off just as well as they did in the previous challenge.

 _94 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,_

 _94 Bottles of Beer._

 _If one of those bottles should happen to fall,_

 _93 Bottles of Beer on the Wall._

* * *

Unfortunately, the feeling was not shared by the Killer Bass.

Some of the crates might have not been as heavy as they appeared, but given how bulky they were, only DJ, Eva, Isaac and Tyler could carry one without assistance. All of the other boys and Bridgette could push one crate each. Katie and Sadie, as well as Suzanne and Courtney, were the only ones that needed to team up in order to move their respective crates, which they might have ended up doing anyway, given that they lacked two crates that might have or might have not contained a vital piece to complete the Hot tub they were about to build, but there was nothing they could do about that. Harold was having the most trouble in moving his box, but he was managing. Transporting the crates by hand may have not been such a hard task, but that wasn´t to say it wasn´t a tiring one; after deciding it was best to go in a relatively slow but steady pace to move the crates to the camp to not tire themselves out so much, they still needed to make a pause to regain a little energy every now and then.

Like now.

"Ouch" Courtney stopped pushing, which made Suzanne stop as well "I think I just got a splinter" she said eyeing her right hand.

Eva was having none of it "Shut up and pick up your crate" she effortlessly picked up the wooden container the girls were pushing, startling them both, only to quickly slammed it down as if to further drive her point home "Chicken."

Quickly recovering herself, Courtney protested "Hey! I´m the only one with CIT camping experience here. You need me!"

DJ and Eva looked at her, before turning to look at each other, clearly not convinced.

Suzanne looked at the Brickhouse and the Iron maiden before looking back at Courtney "Can I see that?" she asked politely, before taking a hold of Courtney´s right hand. She inspected it thoughtfully, until she found the splinter the CIT had complained about. With her thumb and index, Suzanne took out the splinter without much issue.

"Ouch" Courtney winced once again.

"There you go" Suzanne said with a smile, throwing the tiny piece of wood away, completely disregarded.

"Ummm... thank you" Courtney said, sounding a little bit off.

"You´re welcome. Shall we continue?" The Girl in Sepia was ready to get back to work.

But before they could start again, Tyler put his crate down "Ah... I gotta take a wiz" he excuses himself before heading to the woods.

"Hurry up, we´re already behind" Eva stated.

"Oh, I have to go, too" Katie commented.

Both her and Sadie stopped pushing their crate "You too? Oh my gosh, me too" they both then went to the woods as well.

Things really weren´t looking good for the red team. The Screaming Gophers, it seemed, haven´t stopped even once since they started moving their crates to the campgrounds, and as necessary as the stops were for the Killer Bass to catch their breaths, it didn´t change the fact that they were also widening the gap between the teams, giving the green team and even greater advantage than the one they already had. They were ready to go once again, but they needed to wait for their teammates to come back, because it wouldn´t do well for the team to have any of their members tiring themselves out even quicker should they try to push an extra crate. At the very least, things couldn´t get any worst, could they? Right?

"Ow!" Courtney groaned once again, a bug was flying dangerously close to her face, and with a quick motion, she managed to smash it with her hand, but she hit her right eye in doing so "I think something just bit me!"

Tyler has already returned to the beach, and Eva was starting to lose patience when she saw Katie and Sadie finally returning as well "All better?" she asked.

"Yup!" Katie replied.

"Can we go now? I think my eye is swelling up" Courtney complained.

They all began with their march once again, however, in no time, Sadie noticed something was up "Ew, something´s itching me, are you itching too?"

"Totally itching" Katie confirmed.

They tried to keep up with their space until they finally reached the camp, after figuring that they have already wasted too much time.

But it wasn´t going to be that easy "Oh, it´s really itching now!" Sadie whined.

"Mine feels like it´s burning" Katie complained.

"Ok! I have to scratch!" Sadie said, and Katie followed her example.

In that moment, Chris arrived in a quad bike, looking for the Killer Bass. It was true that he expected to a disparity between the teams, given the earned advantage the Gophers had, but he expected it to make the Bass push themselves harder in order to compensate for it, not to make them slack off on the beach. It the gap between the teams kept on widening, there was going to be a point where it couldn´t even be considering a competition, which was not good for ratings, which was not good for him "You guys are way behind the other team. Like, way behind" he stated "What´s the problem?"

"Their butts are itchy."

Chris turned to see it was Courtney who said that, and he also saw the grotesque state her right eyes was in "Gah! Oh my boxers that is bad!"

"Did you guys squat down when you peed on the woods?" Bridgette asked the itchy girls.

"Yeah?" Katie answered.

"Did you happen to notice what kind of plants you were squatting over?"

"They were kind of oval-shaped and green and all over the place" Sadie explained, still scratching herself.

"Were they low to the ground?" Bridgette put her hands close to one another, but not that close "About this big?"

Both girls nodded frantically.

"You guys squatted on poison ivy" Bridgette revealed to them, trying to hold her laughs.

Katie and Sadie didn´t react at first, until realization finally dawned on their faces "What did we do?!" Sadie yelled.

Chris didn´t even tried to hide his laughs "No way! That´s awesome!" he gleefully exclaimed, laughing unsympathetically at the twin friends, who were now crawling on the sand in an completely undignified matter.

* * *

Things were going much more smoothly for the Screaming Gophers, after already opening up their crates and seeing what was inside them.

"Hey check it out! I got wood!" Owen announced.

"I got some tools here and what looks like a pool liner" Trent revealed what was inside his crate.

LeShawna and Lillian were looking inside another wood box when they were approached by Heather and Lindsay "I just wanted to say," Heather began, raising a hand in sign of peace "I didn´t mean that about you being a Getto Rap-star Wannabe and I love your earrings, they are so pretty."

"Straight up?" LeShawna asked, placing a hand on one of her earrings, which happened to be special to her. When she saw Heather nodding her head, she decided she might as well accept her apology "Well... I´m sorry about pushing you over the cliff and all."

"No worries" Heather assured her "I needed a push. Truce?" She offered her hand for LeShawna to shake.

"Yeah, yeah. You got it" LeShawna, instead, decided to offer her fist for Heather to fist bump, which she obligated.

After that, Heather and Lindsay when on their way, while LeShawna looked back at Lillian "That was nice of her" the Shrinking Violet said with a small smile.

"Yeah" LeShawna acknowledged "She may be kind of a up thigh girl, but I guess she ain´t that bad either."

"Goes to show you really can't judge people based on first impressions" Lillian's voice grew in volume.

"Guess not, she just needed a little push in the right direction" LeShawna looked back at Heather, who was talking to Lindsay about something.

"Y-yeah, a push" Lilly laughed nervously, looking away from the Sister with 'Tude. Though she knew LeShawna meant that in a figurative sense, there was no denying LeShawna was capable of using that expression on a literal sense as well, but there was no way for her to express that thought aloud, partly because it would be rude, and partly because she was fearful that would be enough to trigger another fit from the girl. Twice have been the times Lillian witnessed first hand the volatile nature of LeShawna, and in neither case has it been pretty, and she did not want to find out what would be like to be directly in the receiving end of LeShawna's temper. However, Lillian could also tell that the general demeanor was that of a good, caring person, if only a tiny little bit on the boisterous side (which was another thing she wouldn't express out loud), so Lilly decided to practice what she preached and not judge LeShawna based on first (and seconds) impression. Besides, Lillian would be lying if she said she didn't appreciate the good qualities she saw on the sister, qualities she wished she had on herself. Hopefully she would rub off on some of that if she stood with LeShawna, but that was assuming she wanted her next to her... Which wasn't very likely... Because who would want her around...?

Lillian rapidly shook her head, now wasn't the time to have those kind of thoughts (it was never the time to have them, but tell that to her mind) looking back at LeShawna, Lillian said "Anyway, I'm just glad you guys could sort that issue out. I was kind of worried you guys were going to have a problem, seeing as we are going to be teammates and all."

"All you gotta do is be straight with people. Let 'em know where you stand with them. It will cut out so much crap, even if you still don't like them or they don't like you" LeShawna explained "What matters is that we respect each other enough not to be I'm anyone's bad side, lest we want to cause internal conflict on the team."

"I get that" Lillian said "I still do want people to like me, though" she added nervously.

"Well you won't have to worry about that, since Beth seems to like you already, and I can see why" LeShawna smiled, putting a hand on the taller girl, making her smile in return "But more of that later, right now we have a Hot Tub to build." The Homegirl said as she took some tools out of the crate they opened.

There were also some wood inside the crate, which Lillian took "Y-yeah!" She replied eagerly, following the sister suit.

* * *

"Finally" Harold breathed out.

It was just now that the Killer Bass have arrived to the campgrounds, and their spirits were as low as the energy they had left in them, and their drive as ascent as Katie and Sadie, who needed to stay in they beach for reason the red team wasn't willing to share.

The Screaming Gophers had begun with the construction of the Hot Tub well before they arrived, and seeing how far they already were on the project... well it was disheartening to say the least. They knew that didn't chance the fact that they still had until dusk to build their own Hot Tub, and just because they started earlier, it didn't necessarily meant the green team were going to make a good job at building it. And yet, here they were, sitting around the campgrounds while the Gophers were practically running circles around them. Catching their breaths wasn't the issue anymore, they were just plain tired, not even trying to figure how to proceed with the second part of the challenge. The crates were just lying there, unopened. Despite the fact that they knew they had a fighting chance on their minds, they just didn't feel it on their hearts.

Well Geoff was having none of that.

He stood at the top of a crate "Hey, Dudes! It's not too late! We can do this!"

"Ok, look guys," Courtney voiced, seemingly the only inspired by Geoff's words "We have a Hot tub to complete and we need a project manager. Since I've actually been a CIT before, I'm electing myself. Any objections?"

"Where do we begin, Cyclops?" Duncan wasn't impressed. He was, however, taken aback when Courtney practically got into his face.

"Open the crates!" Courtney ordered "Bridgette, go finds those itchy girls. We are going to need all the help we can get."

"If I might," Isaac raised his hand " I have experience in building furniture in the past, so I believe I can be trusted with the grunt work of building the body of the tub." He explained.

"Me too, eh!" Ezekiel also voiced "I know a lot about simple projects like this one, since I do one of those all the time back in my farm" he then addressed the rest of his team, specifically the girls "so you girls can sit down let the work to us guys" he suggested with a smile.

Suzanne noticed that Courtney and Eva had all raised an eyebrow at him, in sign they were picking up the implications on Ezekiel's seemingly inoffensive comment, so she quickly cleared her throat, putting and end to the silence before it even began "As chivalrous as that sounds, Ezekiel, we can't have only half of us doing all the work while the rest of us do nothing" she explained "You and Isaac may be the closest we have to an expert in this situation, but we simply can't let you guys do all the work."

"I agree" Courtney regained control over the conversation again "Ezekiel, you and Isaac will begin building up the tub as soon as we open the crates. DJ, Eva, can you guys take care of that?"

"No sweat" DJ replied, While Eva simply nodded.

 _"_ You cannot use your hands to open up the crates" Chris has told the Screaming Gophers, as well as the Killer Bass as soon as they arrived to the camp, so DJ and Eva used the second best thing they had at the moment, their legs. With powerful kicks, they were able to open the first crate in no time, and while they were able to maintain the pace up till the eleventh crate, they were wore out.

As soon as the first crate opened, the rest to the girls decided to start with the inventory, making sure to have everything accounted for and cheeking before adding the new materials from the second crate, and the third and so on. They seemed to have all the necessary parts that were needed to build the body of the hot tub, so Duncan and Geoff began to bring the parts and tools necessary for Ezekiel and Isaac, as well as Harold and Tyler who said they were going to help them to build the tub body from the ground, so they could start working quickly. The progress was steady and smooth, at least until Tyler began to hit too hard with the hammer.

"Your are using more force than necessary" Isaac informed him "You need to let the weight of the hammer do the majority of work."

"I know what I´m doing, ok?" Tyler snapped, before attempting to hammer another in, only for him to split the wood beam.

"It does not seem like it, if I´m being perfectly honest" Isaac commented.

"You just have to do what my pa´ always tells me to do" Ezekiel added his own two cents "Focus on the nail and not so much on the hammer, eh."

Tyler, being more open to Ezekiel´s advice than Isaac´s, decided to follow it, but the results weren´t that much different.

"Ok, that´s it" Courtney walked to the boys, Suzanne following her suit "Tyler, we appreciate the enthusiasm, but I think it would be best if we let someone else do this job, someone more... handy" The CIT stated.

"But I can do this guys!" The red jock protested "I just need time to focus a little more."

"Is precisely time what we don´t have, Tyler" Suzanne intervened "The guys here seem to be doing a decent work by themselves" she pointed at Ezekiel, Harold and Isaac.

"But I want to help" Tyler insisted.

"Then you can bring them the supplies they need to complete the hot tub, just like Duncan and Geoff have been doing" Courtney told him, not having any intention on letting him keep on ruining what little progress they were making.

With a dejected sigh, Tyler nodded his head and went to the pile of supplies the girls have been organizing. At that moment, DJ and Eva managed to open up one of the few remaining crates, so Courtney and Suzanne went to view the new materials they had. The three boys returned to their job. They needed more parts and another hammer. Geoff took care of the wood, and Duncan was about to provide the tool, but Tyler wanted to take it went it was already on Duncan´s hand without so much as to offering himself to carry the hammer. Both boys were struggling to keep the hammer on their hands, until they both let go of the tool, which caused the two of them to fall to the ground, sending it flying to Harold´s head. The nerd didn´t even have time to flinch away from the incoming projectile, but fortunately for him, Isaac caught when it was itches away from Harold´s head. This event did not go unnoticed by either Courtney or Suzanne.

"You know what, Tyler?" Courtney began, with barely concealed annoyance "I think it will be best for everyone if you take a break."

"Yeah, no kidding" Duncan said, getting himself up from the ground.

"But—" The red jock began, but didn´t finish.

"We insist" Suzanne deadpanned. And that the end of that discussion.

After DJ and Eva were done with the crates, they were offered the chance to rest for the rest of the challenge, but neither one of them were willing to ´slack off´ as they put it, so they decided that after catching a breath, they will replace Geoff and Duncan in providing for the tools and parts the builders will need, and the Party Animal and the Delinquent in turn would start with the Hot Tub system, and later they will receive assistance from Isaac, as promised by the square nerd himself. Katie and Sadie decided by their own volition that they would take a break for the rest of the challenge, asking Bridgette if there was anything they could do about the sour itching they still were feeling. The surfer girl went to the cabin, pretty sure she had some Aloe cream in her belongings to give to the nonidentical twins.

Victory was starting to become a real possibility for the red team, the Screaming Gophers might have started with an advantage, and while it certainly helped to ease their minds and not to make as many mistakes, it wasn´t a matter of who build their tub first, but who build it best. The hut tub was made, the system was set up, all that was left to do was to filled it with water. Using the buckets they were given, the Killer Bass went back and ford from the campgrounds to the beach, just like the Screaming Gophers did before them.

Finally, it was time for Chris to judge the finish products both team had produced.

He went to the Screaming Gophers first. The steam was emanating from the water, the craftsmanship was good. Everything seemed to be in order.

" _This_ is an Awesome Hot Tub!" The host announced.

The green team Cheered, exchanging high fives, and whistling all around.

It was now the time test the Killer Bass. The stream irradiating from the water was also there, the most clear sign that everything else was also competently made. But, Chris noticed, not as competently as the Screaming Gophers. He could spot a few flaws here and there in the body of the Hot Tub, but what was really off putting to him were the pieces of dupe tape in some areas. When he took one off, he could see a small but noticeable leak on the side of the tub. The Hopeful smiles of the red team soon vanished. It couldn´t be helped, they thought resignedly, since they didn´t have more wood beam to replace the ones that got spoiled. There could have been some more in the two crates they were missing, but there was nothing they could do about that, specially now of all times.

"Stable, functional and going, I´ll give you that" Chris began "But I think we have a winner here" he made a pause "The Screaming Gophers!"

A new round of cheers erupted from the Green Team, while the Red team looked down in resignation.

"Gophers!" Chris announced "You are safe from elimination _and_ You get to rock this awesome Hot Tub for the rest of the summer" He then pointed to the camera "Honest!"

"Killer Bass, what can I say? Sucks to be you right now" The killer looked back at the host "I´ll see your sorry butts on bonfire tonight."

In a competition, everybody knew, there were going to be winners and losers. The Killer Bass knew, or at the very least thought, that the could bounce back from this. For now, all they could do was taste the sour flavor that was defeat. It tasted... sour.

* * *

Losing the challenge, the Killer Bass figured, may have been the reason why the food they were eating tasted worse than their first meal on the island.

Isaac knew different, though.

His perception wasn't clouded by the bitter knowledge that his team has lost the first of many battles in this war with the Screaming Gophers, which was not to say it didn't affect him like the rest of his teammates (if anything he could have been even more affected than the anyone else, feeling responsible for their failure in the hot tub challenge as the one who was supposed to guide the rest of his comrades, even if he knew on a intellectual level that he did everything he could to deliver), it was just that he had an easier time than most in separating his mood and any other kind of personal bias when observing the reality unfolding before his eyes, so he knew as a matter of fact that the food did taste worst than the ones before this. He was ready to shrug it off and simply assume it was due to the chef's cooking skills (or lack thereof) but the fact that he was still able to eat it and so far hasn't shown any sign that it wasn't something he could not digest, made him reconsider whether Chef knew what he was doing on the kitchen. It seemed deliberate, as in purposely cooked this way. An extra punishment for losing the challenge, maybe? It was likely. He looked at the table of his rivals and saw the general good mood reflected on their expressions. He was certain that if their meal tasted as bad as his team's, the sweet victory they must have been feeling would have been long forgotten. Isaac felt compelled to share this theory of his with the rest of the Bass, if only for the sake of starting a conversation. He was by no means the most sociable person around, being an introvert all his life, but he understood enough that the atmosphere surrounding the Killer Bass was a thick one. But he stopped himself, for he was fearing that sharing his hypothesis would start a conversation that wouldn't end in a cheerful tone, or any tone lighter than the one they currently felt, if anything it may end up in a worst one.

He was hoping someone more sociable than him would try to say something that would cheer up the rest of the team, Geoff in particular seemed very adept in talking people up, even if they were still relatively strangers, but the "Funniest Guy Around" seemed as subdued as the rest of Bass, perhaps even more so given his usual upbeat demeanor. It didn't sit well with him to see them like this.

"So ah..." The Square nerd looked up from his unappealing meal to see it was Katie who broke the silence "What do we do now?"

"We have to figure who we are gonna vote off" Courtney didn't miss a beat.

Ah, right, the Elimination Ceremony.

"Funny you should mention that" Duncan began "Because I was just about to "nominate" you."

"What!?" Courtney was taken aback, she did not expect that "Why?"

"Because, lest I'm mistaken, you are the only one in the whole camp that is wearing a Chicken Hat."

"You guys need me!" Courtney protested, though it came out more like a plea "I-I'm the only one with—."

"We know" Bridgette rolled her eyes, sounding a little exasperated "You used to be a real CIT. So who would you pick?" She still tried to be diplomatic.

Courtney rapidly looked at everybody on the table. "What about... Him!?" She pointed an almost accusatory finger at Tyler.

The unsuspecting jock was taken aback, fortunately for him, Duncan came in his defense "Hey, at least he jumped off the cliff, chicken wing!" Duncan taunted.

"Shut up!" Courtney bit back, seemingly without any retort to Duncan's claim.

Geoff stepped in between them "Ok, let's chill out. This is getting way too heavy."

"I have enough prison good for one day" Duncan really couldn't have less of a care in the world "I gonna go have a nap."

"Y-you can't do that!" Courtney called out for him "We have to decide who is going yet!" But Duncan simply ignored her.

He couldn't, however, do the same with Isaac, who sat up from his seat and stepped in front of him "Please do stay, Duncan. This is a matter that should be best discussed with the whole team."

"Out of my way, Four-eyes." Duncan threatened.

"Four eyes? I only have two" Isaac was confused before suddenly looking worried, "Oh no, double vision is a sign of contusion. When did you hit your head? How much does it hurt?"

Duncan was actually taken aback by that comment, hearing a couple of giggles on the background that Isaac seemingly didn't notice. Ignoring the genuine look of concern on the nerd's face, Duncan was about to tell him off, but didn't get the chance to.

"Well I just don't get why we lost, eh?" Ezekiel voiced his thoughts.

"Oh I believe I can clarify that for you."

Suzanne practically slammed her tray down to the table, before placing herself in the seat between Ezekiel and DJ, the former with the next words he wanted to say on his mouth and the latter a little bit startled. Before coming to the table, she was having and conversation with the Chef ( a pretty one-sided one, given the lack of response from the man) Given the sour expression she was wearing when looking at her food, one could imagine how well it went.

"Oh really?" Duncan looked at the rich blonde "And would be the reason we lost, messy?"

Suzanne didn't give him the satisfaction of getting a reaction out of her "Lack of Teamwork" she was addressing everyone on the table, but was looking directly at the delinquent when she spoke.

Duncan raised and eyebrow at her, but before he could even ask what she was implying, someone else beat him to the punch.

"What do you mean?" DJ asked her.

"Simply put," she began, and Duncan noticed a subtle change in her voice "in order to work as a team, we need a common goal to work towards, and we also need to understand that the need of the team as a whole is more important than the individual needs of any of us."

"And what are those needs?" Duncan asked, although he preferred to say he challenged, he was yet to be convinced by Suzanne´s argument, and he thought she just was trying really hard to sound smart.

"To show off, obviously" The Girl in Sepia said "We are all here to become famous, are we not? We all want to have a fanbase, and for that we need to draw attention to us, and the challenges are the best opportunity for us to do so. The problem begins when showing off interferes with doing the actual challenge and he rest of the team suffers as a result."

"So..." Katie began "You are saying that... We need to focus on contributing to the challenge first, try to become famous second?" She was pretty sure that was what her fellow teammate was saying, but she wanted confirmation nonetheless.

"For as long as we remain a team, yes."

"Even if contributing means to step aside and not interfere with the others?" Sadie questioned. In the Hot Tub Challenge, the Killer Bass didn't need every member to participate in the construction, so it was safe to assume the Screaming Gophers didn't need all of their members either. The thing was, though, there wasn't any reason for the cameras to focus on the procrastinating campers that weren't doing much, if any, work "How will be draw attention to us, then?"

"You need to plan ahead" Suzanne informed the chubby twin "There will be others challenges, other opportunities for you to show off, where you will be able to actually help your team, rather than being a liability on the challenge, which will only serve to have you vote off after we lose, thus making you unable to draw attention to yourself anyway. You don't become famous by being an early out in a cast of Twenty-six participants."

"Much lest being the first eliminated" Eva interjected, having enough of beating around the bush and going straight to the point of the discussion "Which unfortunately, it's going to be one of us."

"But not any of us" Suzanne added at last "I think it will be only fair to eliminate the person who contributed the least in today's challenge."

The important question was, who is that person? They all needed to come to their own answer and make a decision. It was a decision they needed to take with cool heads and it was going to be a hard one. As they were making they deliberations, they kept on eating their unappealing dinner.

* * *

The last lights of dusk faded away, replaced by the darkness of the night. The glow from the crescent moon and the stars above, pretty as they were, were unfortunately ignored and overshadowed by the warm light of the torches and the hanging lamps surrounding the Campfire Pit, where the fire was burning the wood away in the middle of the place, viewed by the Thirteen Killer Bass, who were all sitting down in one of the stumps.

The silence was overwhelming.

They did not have the strong start in the competition they were hoping for, and they did get did not foresee an improvement of their performance as a team, if the Hot Tub challenge was any indication of that, and the tension build on the dining lodge when deciding who to vote for has been carried all the way to the Campfire Pit, reflected on the fact that none of the red team made any attempt to talk with one another in order to essay the tension, with the obvious exception of Katie and Sadie, and even the pair of the nonidentical Twins were strangely subdued on that moment. Suzanne´s words weighted heavy on the minds of the team, and with those words on mind they delivered their votes on the person they believed to be the least fit to keep on the competition, leas the rest of the team wanted them to slow them down for the rest of the show. Now. for the time being, They all decided to enjoy the bright fire as mush as they could. Because after tonight, one of them wouldn´t get to enjoy such a simple camp activity anymore.

"Killer Bass" The voice of Chris McLean broke the loud silence that was drowning everything and everyone in the Campfire Pit "At camp, marshmallows represent a tasty treat that you enjoy roasting by the fire. At this camp, Marshmallows represent life" He was holding a silver plate displaying the Twelve Marshmallows that only twelve Killer Bass will get to enjoy.

"You all cast your votes and made your decision. There are only twelve marshmallows on this plate. When I call your name, come up and claim your marshmallow. The camper who does not receive a marshmallow tonight, must immediately return to the Dock of Shame, to catch the Boat of losers. That means you are out of the contest and you cant come back. _Ever_ "

"This, is the very first Marshmallow of the Competition. And the person who is going to have the honor to receive it will be..."

"DJ"

The Brick house with Heart smiled, and went to claim his token of immunity, He inserted a stick into the sweet treat, and sent a smile to his fellow teammates, his gaze lingered just a little bit longer on Suzanne, who gave him a small but sincere smile in return. DJ was signaled by the host to stand behind him, and so DJ did.

Picking up another marshmallow, Chris called each and every camper one by one "Isaac."

A small smile broke into the seemingly perpetually blank expression of the black and white nerd. He rose from his seat to claim his sweet treat.

"Ezekiel."

The Home-schooled Guy was on his feet in no time.

"Suzanne."

The Girl in Sepia smiled satisfactorily. After claiming her marshmallow, she positioned herself next to DJ.

"Bridgette."

The Surfer Girl smiled happily upon being called, receiving content smiles from the twin friends.

"Geoff."

The party animal threw a fist in the air in sign of joy.

"Eva."

The Female Bully did not show any reaction and simply rose from her seat.

"Duncan."

The Delinquent, just like Eva before him, only wore a bored expression when going to claim his sweet.

"Harold."

"Yes!" Harold cheered, wasting no time in getting up.

"Katie... and Sadie"

The Best Female Friends Forever For Life raised from their seats together, claiming their respective marshmallows together.

Courtney and Tyler looked at each other, before looking back at the last Marshmallow on the silver plate.

"It is said that the Second place it´s also known as the first loser in a game" Chris began enigmatically "But that doesn´t hold true in a elimination game. The first one to be eliminated is going to be the first loser of this game. And one of you" he pointed at the two Bass lacking the sweet white treat "will turn out to be that pathetic sucker, With only one marshmallow on the plate, the question is, who is it gonna be?"

Neither one of them could believe it, they were on the bottom two. One of them wasn´t going to receive a marshmallow, and neither one of them wanted to be that pathetic sucker. They looked at their possibly soon to be former teammates, who looked back at the remaining duo. Chris hasn´t mention anything about any of the other Bass having received any votes against them, so it was safe to assume that Courtney and Tyler were the only receptors of the votes. Obviously, they voted for the other, and as far as they were concerned, the votes were evenly spread between the two of them. But the number of Killer Bass was odd, and all if took was one more vote to be sent home.

Looking back at Chris, Both Courtney and Tyler gasped at seeing the host rise a finger dramatically —a little too dramatically, if you were to ask any of the presents— and began to alternatively point at one of the remaining Bass. It wasn´t supposed to be like this. This was not how any of them wanted their start on the show. They were suppose to make it far, to become famous. To win the competition and then go home with the money. But then again, that was everybody's goal, wasn't it? There was always going to be the first loser, it's just that neither one of them expected it to be one of them. But, then again, nobody really does.

In every elimination, one of the confessional made by one of the campers would be used where the chosen camper would explain why they voted the way they did "A team is like a chain, it is only as strong as its weakest link and right now, in the start of the competition, it wasn't that hard to spot a few ones" Suzanne was the last one to cast her vote, making her the one that broke the tie between the bottom two, and ultimately the one who sent the unfortunate soul home "Only time will tell if there will be any improvement, but for right now, we have a ceremony to face" her expression was stern "There was some deliberations to make, but ultimately the choice was rather clear to me."

"The final marshmallow of the night goes to..." Chris took the sweet treat from the silver plate and showed it to Courtney and Tyler, both with their eyes glued to it.

There was a beat...

Then another one...

And finally another one...

"Courtney."

"Which is why, I voted for Tyler" the Girl in Sepia confessed in the Outhouse.

The once CIT let out a sigh of immense relieve, wasting no time in getting up from her seat to claim her token of immunity.

Tyler looked dejected, disappointed and sad. All of his now former teammates were looking at him with sympathy (or at the very least, he thought it was sympathy, because it really wouldn't have sit well with him if they were looking at him with pity.) He looked back at them, but said nothing, because what could he say? Good bye? This didn´t feel good. It was nice to meet you? But he really didn´t meet them, sure he learned their names, and they learned his, but beyond that, he didn´t get to know them, whatever little thing he could have learned from any of them could and most likely will be forgotten the next day, same thing they can say about him.

"Tyler," The host finally pronounced the name of the Red Jock "The Boat of Loser awaits. The dock of shame is that way."

Tyler, the Jock who Sucks at Sports, only rose from his seat, put his hands empty of any marshmallow on his pockets and made his way to the Dock of Shame without muttering a single word to either Chris of any of the Killer Bass. On the Dock, Tiki torches ceremoniously illuminated the dock, allowing Tyler to see clearly in the darkness of the night, so at the very least he wouldn´t trip over his own two feet, ruining the last screen time he was going to have for the rest of the show he felt shameful enough, thank you very much. As he approached the Boat of Loser, Tyler thought deeply. Was he bitter he was eliminated? Not really. Should he be? Not Really. It was the purpose of the game, he just didn´t understand why did it have to be him. Did he really performed that badly on the Hot Tub Challenge? Sure, he made a few mistakes here and there, but he was only trying to help, just like in the Cliff challenge. He actually jumped, unlike Courtney. But... then again, unlike everyone else who also have jumped, he didn´t hit the safe zone, which would have gave his former team an extra crate, that hopefully would have contained the spare wood they could have used to replace the one he had screwed up... It was now, when Tyler entered the Boat of Loser, that he realized he may have not left a particularly good impression to his former team, and to all the viewers of the show.

He Sighed, this really wasn´t the way ha wanted to become famous.

"The rest of you" back on the bonfire, the host addressed the remaining Killer Bass "Enjoy your marshmallow. You are safe. For tonight."

And enjoy their marshmallows they did.

* * *

"To the Screaming Gophers!" Ethan raised his juice box.

The winners of the challenge were enjoying their reward to its fullest, the hot water on the tub was a nice contrast to the cold air of the night, the stars and the moon were all the light they needed and wanted for the party.

"The Screaming Gophers!"

"Woo-hoo!"

"Yeah, that´s the stuff!"

"Go-Gophers! Go-Gophers!" LeShawna sang, and soon her fellow teammates joined her "Go-Gophers! Go-Gophers!"

The camera captured their bliss from afar.

"Are you recording this?"

The camera panned away to view Courtney, as she stood near the cameraman, and far away from the rival team.

Now having the attention she wanted, she began "Good" Her words came sure and strong, much different from the girl who mere moments ago thought she was done for in this competition. Now that she was spared for tonight, she was going to make the most out of the second chance she was given "They can enjoy their little party all they want. But I´m gonna win this competition."

Despite the fact that she practically costed her team the challenge, despite the fact that she was forced to wear that ridiculous chicken hat, that was as denigrating and ugly as it was yellow, the splinter in her hand, the bug that bit her eye, leaving her with a ugly protuberance for an eye, and despite putting all her experience as a CIT into practice to lead her team to victory, only for them to lose anyway, Courtney was still standing, she was not going to give up. She still has the upcoming challenge to prove herself, to both her team and their rivals, that she still had so much fight left in her, and she was going to give it her all, for she was Courtney, and only her absolute best will do.

After the briefest moment of contemplation, Courtney put out that stupid Chicken Hat out of her head, throwing it to the ground, where it belonged.

"And no one is gonna stop me."

* * *

 **A/N:** So, the first two episode of the show, I gotta said, it was really fun to write this one, much more than the last one, the main reason for that being the fact that I was able to write more from my own mind than from the canon episode. And fortunately for me, the next episode, ´The Big Sleep´, will be the episode where I can fully write on my own, so it will be from that moment on where I can really put my writing skill into practice, as well as improve them overtime, with your help of course. Hopefully, I will be able to maintain a monthly update schedule, which is a huge thing, because considering the length of the chapters thus far, I really thought I would have troubles in updating in a relatively steady pace, so I´m glad it´s not taking me as long as I thought it would take.

I quite liked how this chapter turned out, but of course, I once again I will take my time to review this chapter over for any errors that I overlooked before posting it. It you find any, please pointed them out for me. If you think there are some areas where I could improve this a little bit, please tell me how to, I´m all ears for your constructive criticisms. I also want you to tell me which part of this chapter was your favorite, as well as what do you think so far of my OC, seeing as that now you have more information about them to work with. Did you like Suzanne and Ethan giving DJ and Beth the help they needed, respectively? Did you like the Friendship Between Lillian and LeShawna? Did you like Isaac attempts and fails at being sociable? Did you like how Suzanne practically saved Ezekiel from Elimination? But I don´t want to only know what you think about my OC, did you like what I did for the canon cast? I had a particularly fun time writing Noah´s and Owen´s parts, personally speaking. I´m also all hears for that!

Speaking about eliminations...

 **26th. Tyler:** The out of universe reason as to why I eliminate Tyler first was because I promised changes and changes I will deliver. I had two options, to either allow for the divergences to slowly build up or to change things almost right away, and I think you saw which option I went for. Ezekiel was never meant to be the first boot for this story, and fortunately for me, it wasn´t that hard to figure out who would take his place, which brings us to the in-universe reason as to why it had to be Tyler. In the two canon episodes, Tyler did not have that great a start into the competition, with his introduction gone wrong as well as his lackluster performance in the very first challenge overall. I decided to exploit those factor to have a believable first elimination, as well as to make some little change of my own to help me put this off, mainly with the added rule of the challenge of HAVING to land on the safe zone, as well as to have Isaac unintentionally pushing Tyler´s bottoms, which is why Tyler had an even bigger reason as to try to show off to the rest of his team, like in ´Dodgebrawl´, only for him to make even more mistakes as a result, as well as being a little hostile to the Atypical Nerd, despite the fact that Tyler is a rather friendly person in normal circumstances.

Overall, I hope your find my reason to be valid, I hope you like this story so far and I hope you will like what I have for the next chapter.

Until next time, See ya!


	4. Episode 3: The Big Sleep

**Disclaimer:** See Prologue.

 **xPurpleGod:** I´m glad that you you liked my writing style, if there is any way you think it can be improved upon, please let me know, I'm all ears. 'Total Alternate Island' was one of the fics that I read and ultimately inspired me to make this story of mine (I considerate it a good read, even when it's treatment of Courtney's character has always been a glaring issue to me) Thanks for your kind words!

 **LovelyLuly:** Suzanne, I like to think, it's generally nicer than Courtney most of the time, having said that, though, I think Suzanne is neither nice or mean, but rather honest. She genuinely likes DJ, and their relationship will grow from now on. But at the same time, she doesn't like Duncan or Gwen, at all, and is not making any attempt to hide that fact. Isaac does indeed have autism, but don't just take my word for it, it will be explore later in the story, so just wait. Those are all good directions Lillian could go in the story, and I like the potential relationships she may have, but we will have to wait and see how it develops. For now, All I can say is that she is going to have a couple of major scenes in this chapter. Heather will notice Lindsay and Ethan's new... 'Friendship', and she will definitely exploit that to her favor, the question is how. Thank you very much for your review!

 **Guest:** Yes, yes he does. It will be addressed in the story in the future, so you just wait!

Without further ado, let's start!

* * *

 **Episode 3 - The Big Sleep.**

* * *

The first thing that Lillian saw after slowly opening her eyes was the top half of the bunk bed she has grown very familiar with. She thought for the briefest moment if there was something different about the upper bed, before shrugging it off to her simply being still a little sleepy. She propped herself on the mattress, stretching her arms a little as she let out a yawn, before turning to her sleeping partner and shaking her shoulder ever so slightly.

"Come on Lucia, it's time to wake up..." She said just loud enough to be heard by the other girl.

There was the same old muffled groan she has heard since forever "Lucia...?" there was a new voice she has only heard since not so long ago.

Realization dawned on Lillians face as the break day dawned on the rest of the island. The colors rose to Lillian's face faster than Beth could prop herself in the bed and rub the sleep out of her eyes "Oh my gosh Beth I'm so sorry" the shrinking violet said a little too fast "I thought you were my little sister since we share the bed and we usually get up pretty early and I thought you were her and oh my gosh I'm so sorry I woke you up I didn't mean to bother you please go back to sleep?"

Lillian was talking faster, but thankfully she wasn't speaking louder, or the other girls would also have been awoken by her too, and as far as Beth could tell, that would have been the worst possible situation the Wallflower could find herself in. The farm nerd wasn't really listening to Lillian's fast and short and nervous rambling, since she still was trying to fully wake up, but there was something she could catch on "Oh yeah, you said something about being used to sharing your bed" Beth smiled, she then when to the other side of the bed, as it was connected to the dresser, where she has put her glassed atop before going to sleep "So you and your sister sleep together?" she asked as she put her glasses on, now able to clearly see Lillian.

"Yeah... we have a bunk bed like this one back home —one much more stable than this one, that is— but we kind of just kept on sleeping on the same bed out of habit" There was a fondness in her voice that Beth liked much more than the usually withdraw tone the girl next to her displayed more often than not.

"Awww... that sounds so sweet" the Wannabe expressed "I always wanted to have a sister to do things like that, since I've always been an only child." the closest thing to an actual sibling Beth's ever have was Bertha, her pet pig she has raised since she was a piglet, but she thought that wasn't something that she should share so openly, not because she was afraid of what Lilly would think, as so far the girl she has easily befriended hasn't shown any sign she might be of the judgmental type, but because she wasn't sure what the others might think of her.

"Yeah, we wake up pretty early to make breakfast for dad and our little brothers and have the kitchen cleaned before going to school" Lillian continued explaining, before she suddenly seemed to remember something and looked back at Beth with the same apologetic look "I'm really sorry I woke you up, though. I really thought you were Lucia, and it was out of force of habit. Not that it is an excuse."

"Hey now... don't be so rough on you over a little mistake" Beth put a hand on the shoulder of the Shrinking Violet, a reassuring smile on her face "It doesn't bother me at all waking up this early, really." the farm nerd explained "I grew in a farm, so I'm more than used to raising before the morning."

"Even so, I didn't know that" the Wallflower protested "If it has been any of the other girls..."

"But it wasn't any of the other girls, it was me" Beth reminded her of the obvious "So please stop apologizing so much, ok? I've already forgave you, not that I was ever mad at you in the first place."

Lillian looked down, still not very convinced, until she looked back at the nerdette with a small smile "Ok... ok. Sorry about that."

Beth snorted "Did you just apologize for apologizing?" _And people think_ I'm _the awkward one!_

Lillian, to her credit, took the comment as the good nature teasing that it was "Yeah... I guess I just did."

They both giggled, their voices still low, less they wanted to wake up any of the other girls. They were silent for a moment, but it was not an uncomfortable one, as both girls genuinely enjoyed each other company.

"So we are both early birds, huh?" Beth commented, breaking the silence "But since this isn't your home or my farm... there is really nothing for us to do, is there?"

"I guess no..." Lillian agreed "All we can do is wait till Chef has our breakfast ready."

"And after that, we have to wait till Chris announces a new challenge" Beth added.

"I don't feel like going back to sleep, though..."

"So... do you want to just... talk?" Beth added, a little more hesitantly than she intended.

"I would like that, yeah" Lillian smiled, she would like that very much "Do you want to tell me how life in your farm is like?"

Beth smiled widely, showing off her teeth practically covered in metal, which gave the nerdette a charm of sorts, in Lillian's humble opinion.

The Wannabe, however, didn't have the opportunity to talk about every single aspect about her farming life back home, for a potent noise echoed throughout the cabin, startling both girls, and shocking awake all the still sleeping girls in the cabin.

LeShawna, who rose from her bed so fast she hit her head with the upper bed of the bunk, was not happy "It's seven in the morning!" she yelled, before rushing to the window, quickly spotting the host, with his mega horn still in hand, outside "Do I look like a farmer to you?!"

She didn't notice that Beth and Lillian were looking at her, and the Wallflower, despite herself, was suddenly grateful that she has shared a bed with Beth and not LeShawna.

Whatever feeling that that day would turn to be a good one, has quickly vanished.

* * *

All the campers, one by one, were gathering in front of their cabins, looking so tired some of them surprised themselves by being able to stand in their feet. Most of them had eyes bags and an uncoordinated chorus of yawns could be heard in the backgrounds. Chris only gave them time to change from their pajamas to their daily clothing, so they didn't get to take a shower or so much as to wash their teeth. It certainly wasn't the best way to start a new day.

After the last camper, Cody, arrived at the common grounds of the cabins, did Chris begin to speak "Morning! Hope you slept well!" He expressed falsely.

"Hi, Chris" Heather said "You look really buff on those shorts" she complimented him.

Chris winked at her "I know" he then proceeded to address the rest of the campers "Ok, I hope you are all ready because your next challenge begins, in exactly one minute!" he announced.

"Oh, excuse me" Owen protested "I don't know if that's enough time to eat breakfast" while it was obvious that Owen would be the one most concerned about their (read his) daily meals, it was an issue that all of the other campers, to varying degrees, would have, so they wanted to know what Chris had to say about that.

"Oh, you'll get breakfast, Owen" well that was reassuring "Right after you complete your 20-kilometer run *around* the lake!" until it was not.

"Oh, so you are funny now" Eva raised her voice, which was not filled with happiness. It was bad enough that Chris found amusing messing with their sleep patterns, but now he was depriving them of the most important meal of the day. Give her a break "You know what else would be funny?" hitting his pretty face so he wouldn't get to smile that plastic grin of his she was all but fed up with since the moment she arrived to the island, which she was more than happy to obligate as she approached the host with a threatening fist. Duncan and Geoff held her by her arms and shoulders.

"Eva" she turned to see it was Courtney who spoke "Try to control your temper?"

Eva, however, didn't pay her any mind "You are enjoying this, aren't you?" she glared back at the host.

"A little" Chris answered her truthfully "You have thirty seconds" he stated, ignoring her deadly glares.

"I know you are angry, Eva," said Suzanne this time around "but try to use that anger into something more productive, like the challenge" she tried to sound as neutral she could, trying to not look like she was chastising the Female Bully, which she was.

Eva, to her credit, decided it was best to calm down. The Girl in Sepia was right, it would be much better for Eva (and everyone else) if she could redirect her temper at the task at hand, rather than at the host of the show, something that would more than likely cause her an instant boot. She was glad that causing damage around the camp didn't warrant that kind of severe penalty as well, because in the short time since they all have arrived at the camp, Eva has thrown one her suit case through a window, making her responsible for all the cold nights the female Killer Bass were going to have to deal with, as well as breaking the lock of one of the bathroom doors. She really wasn't making a stellar job at controlling her temper, was she? But then again, getting a hold of her anger has been and still is one of the reasons why she decided to join the show, she just hoped she could learn how to do that before her teammates decided having to deal with her wrath wasn't worth having her around, strongest member of the team or not.

It took exactly thirty seconds for all the campers to line so they could start with the race "Ok runners!" Chris called "On your marks... Get set... GO!"

None of them needed to be told twice.

* * *

Ethan was leading the race, the gap between him and the second-place racer, Eva, while not a considerably wide one, it still didn't look like the female blue jock was going to catch on, much less surpass, the male blue jock. The lack of sleep and sustain affected Eva more than she was willing to admit, specially at seeing how it hasn't affected Ethan yet, or if it did, not to the level it affected her. But it was not like she was about to give up on the race, far from it, for it has just recently begun, and she had plenty of stamina to keep a fast and steady pace in this long run, which would be the decisive factor as to who would win the challenge. The real question was whether Ethan also had the stamina. Finally having someone who could pose an actual challenge to her was refreshing, and it served as an excellent motivator for her to push herself forward, both in this race and for the rest of the competition.

As the Gophers' and Bass' top runners went ahead in the race, the other campers were trying to catch on as well. Behind Eva was Izzy, who has lots and lots of energy to burn out in the race and would probably have some more left by the time she finishes. Even so, she could only go so fast, which was the reason why she hasn't surpassed either Ethan or Eva, but she also looked like she wouldn't need to slow down to catch her breath, so Izzy was more or less a wild card regarding which place she may finish the race in.

Behind Izzy were Bridgette and Geoff "This is a piece of cake, am I right?" the boy asked the girl.

"You can say that again" Bridgette responded as they joggled along. They have already covered a good distance and they still haven't broken a sweat as they began to make small talk.

"This kind of reminds me of all those running exercise my coach made me and the guys do during every practice" Geoff commented with a smile "Though we usually do it on the field, sometimes outside the school, so the woods are a nice chance of scenery."

"I know right?" Bridgette agreed "I'm not much of a forest person, but I can certainly appreciate the beauty of mother earth. All of these trees are bigger than the ones from home."

"The trees are nice, true" the party animal took his eyes away from the road ahead and looked directly at the surfer girl when he said, "Though there is something else in the wood that has caught my eye more."

Bridgette looked away with a smile, a small flush was forming on her cheeks "So..." she was looking for something to keep the conversation going "you play a sport back at your school?"

"Football" Geoff answered "I was the star Quarterback back in my school. We won last season's playoff" he explained.

"Wow, that's impressive" the surfer chick commented "I have to admit, Geoff, for such a laid-back guy as yourself, I didn't expect you to be quite the athlete" by this point, she could already tell he wasn't giving his all to the race, otherwise he would have run pass her long ago. Having said that, she was a pretty athletic person herself, even if it was more obvious in the water than in the land, usually being as graceful as a fish in either terrain, so she was sure she could run fast enough to keep up with him, the real question being for how long she could keep up.

"Hey now, just because I like to chill most of the time doesn't change the fact that I can do anything I put my mind into" Geoff smiled.

"You sound awfully sure of yourself" Bridgette raised an eyebrow, still smiling at her teammate.

"I mean, I don't mean to brag or anything, but I wasn't lying when I said this race is a piece of cake. Maybe I can't catch up to Ethan or Eva, but I can sure try" he then gave a pause before turning to look back a Bridgette with a small smile "You think you can do it?"

"Is that a challenge?" Bridgette's smile grew a little bit.

"If it was, would you be up for that?" He asked as he increased the speed of his running.

Bridgette quickly caught on the hint "Oh, you're on" she might have been a pretty laid-back girl herself, always going with the flow in both the ocean of the beach and in social situations, but she was never one to turn down a little friendly competition.

Behind the blond duo, was DJ, who, much like Geoff, also had backgrounds as being part of the Football team of his school, so he was familiar with running, even if not at the extremes Chris were pushing the campers at the moment. Isaac could have been a great athlete himself, just like DJ and Geoff and pretty much all the male members of his dad's family, have it not been for the fact that he simply wasn't as interested as his father, uncles and cousins were in football. Which was not to say that Isaac was having a hard time in dashing with a relatively fast and steady pace, although his arms were as unmoving as ever, of course. The Bass were not dominating the race, of course, for Justin had an excellent condition, a payoff for treating his body like the temple it was. Next were Courtney and Duncan, and even though they were no athletes themselves, they still got plenty of things going on for them to help them in the race. The same could not be said for Beth and Lillian, being the slowest runners, and it seemed they were already going to need their second breath.

They were the slowest runners because all the rest of the contenders were walking at normal pace, either out of unwillingness to run, or out of being unable to.

Most gymnasts were poor runners, and Lindsay; the Most Valuable Player in the Gymnasia team back in her school, was no exception. Couple that with her highly fashionable and highly running unfriendly cowboy boots, she decided it was best to walk for the rest of the course. She was not the only one that faced a problem of that nature, though.

Suzanne's attire was of high quality, but it was not designed with the outdoors in mind. It was one of the disadvantages of arriving at an island, having expected to arrive at a Five-Stars Resort. Furthermore, while she was a healthy girl by all accounts, that didn't necessarily translate to being a fit one. She decided to go in a fast walking pace, and she would deal with the sour pain on her feet after the challenge is done. She loved her moccasins, but they weren't doing her any favor.

"Howdy there, Suzanne. How are you doing, eh?"

The Girl in Sepia turned to see Ezekiel walking next to her, seemingly employing the same strategy as her.

"I could be doing a lot better, if I'm being perfectly honest" she answered.

"Having troubles with the challenge, eh?" He stated more than asked, which did not go unnoticed by Suzanne. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm not the most athletic member of the team, unfortunately" she said in an even tone.

"That's ok, eh? You can rely on me to help you out in case you have troubles keeping up" Ezekiel smiled at her.

"Oh, really?" Suzanne asked, voice still even.

"Yup, I will more than happy to help you or any of the girls of our team. That's what my pa taught me to do."

He was being honest, that much Suzanne would tell, and there was nothing in his voice that indicated he was being malicious in any way. Still, there was something in his words that rubbed Suzanne the wrong way. Why only the girls? Was he trying to be kind? Then why not extend that kindness to the boys as well? Does he think the boys wouldn't need it? Then why would he think that the girls would?

"Your chivalry is appreciated, Ezekiel, but it must once again be declined" The Anti-Blonde finally said "I need to be able to pull out my own weight, and it certainly wouldn't do well to have you or anyone else carrying me around during the challenges, that would only slow you down as well, making me a burden for the team."

"You wouldn't slow me down" Ezekiel began to protest "I may not be the fastest runner either, eh? but I'm sure I could carry you to the finish line before breaking a sweat."

"That's beside the point, Ezekiel. I still need to be able to finish this race by myself, even if I don't manage to end in a high-ranking place" the Girl in Sepia explained.

"Ok... if you say so" the home-schooled guy didn't sound as sure as his companion "But if during any moment you feel too tired, just let me know I will help you immediately, eh? I know this kind of challenge would be difficult for you girls."

"I know you are trying to be nice, Ezekiel, but that lack faith on me isn't very flattering" Suzanne stated, looking back at the farm boy with critical eyes.

"It isn't?" now the farm boy was confused. Again.

"No" she didn't allowed room for debate "Even if me being female make it harder for me to complete this or any other challenge, I, and the rest of our female teammates for that matter, are trying to contribute to the team's victory as much as you and the boys. And as our teammate, the least you could do is giving us your support, and treating us like we need to hold onto your hand isn't the best way to do so" Suzanne said before turning her gaze back to the road, adding just a little more of speed to her walking, managing to ignore the ever present sour pain in her feet.

Ezekiel was still very confused but tried to maintain the same pace the girl now in front of him was using.

Katie and Sadie were walking behind them. Though the thin twin could have been in comfortable enough place in the race, she decided to stick by her least than fit best friend, if only for the sake of being together. It was going to be a long run (or walk) and they decided it could be best spent in having a chat, about boys, fashions, how lucky they are to have the other and everything in between.

Behind them were Trent and Gwen "So, you sure you don't wanna run?" the musician asked the artist.

"Yeah" she replied before elaborating "I've never been much of the athletic type, and I'm not sure I'm fully awake yet, so I figured it would be best if I save my energy for somewhere around the middle." wherever that might be.

"Sounds like a plan" Trent complimented. He was in a pretty good shape, if he could say so himself, and he was plenty awake, at least more so than Gwen, but he figured he would also benefit from her strategy all the same. Besides, he liked her company.

"I still can't believe Chris would make us run around the island like this" The Goth complained "Waking us up at seven in the morning and not letting us eat breakfast? It's almost as if he likes to mess with us or something."

"This is going to be rough, I'm not denying that, but it is pretty tame in comparation with jumping off a freaking cliff to a lake full of angry sharks" Trent commented.

"I guess it is" Gwen conceded "Is just that this is not what I was expecting when I signed up for this."

"I'm pretty sure none of us did" Trent replied with a humorous smile "Though I do have to admit that I'm pretty curious about why you signed up for the show."

"Oh really?" Gwen asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean, don't take this the wrong way, but as nice as a five-stars resort and all the other things they lied us about sound, you really don't strike me as the type of person that would join something like this."

"I'm pretty sure me not being the type of person that would join a show has something to do with it." The Goth replied sarcastically, but there was a smile on her face.

"Then why are you here?" He asked her curiously.

"It's so stupid, it was supposed to be a prank" the loner began "My little brother and I found out about this show and we had this brilliant idea of me trying to audition for it, and my friends back home, being the awesome friends they are, encouraged me, as oppose to talk me out of it."

"They sound like pretty awesome friends" Trent half joked.

"The best" Gwen declared, no sarcasm in her voice whatsoever.

"So, I take it you didn't expect to be accepted in the show."

"Never in a million years, no."

"Well, it's not all bad, there is definitely something good that came out of this." Trent reassured her.

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Gwen questioned.

"I got to know you" he replied with a smile, which made Gwen smiled in return, a little bit of color was forming in her pale face.

"Well, I told you why I sign up for not this, what about you?" Gwen asked.

But Trent didn't get to answer her "Hey Gwen!" The duo heard someone from behind them.

Cody was approaching them quickly, trying to make up for his particularly slow star in the race "How are you doing?" He asked her.

"I'm doing fine, thank you" she replied in a tone that suggested she wanted the conversation to already end.

"Good to hear" Cody didn't seem to notice "This challenge is a piece of cake, isn't it?"

When it became obvious for Trent that Gwen wasn't gonna answer that, he tried to placate the situation himself, "It is better than jumping off a cliff, that's for sure."

"True that" the Geek replied, finally acknowledging the musician "So. What are you guys doing? Having a chat?"

 _No,_ Gwen wanted to say.

"Yes" Trent replied.

"Cool, mind if I join you?"

 _Yes,_ Gwen wanted to say.

"No" Trent replied.

"Cool, so what were you guys talking about?"

"Oh, you know, just trying to get to know each other" Trent didn't seem to notice Gwen's change of mood.

"That's great, there are plenty of things to know about me" Cody began, but didn't finish.

"You know what, Trent?" She finally said, addressing her much preferred companion "I think now would be a good time to start running."

"Yeah! Let's run!" Cody cheered, completely oblivious to Gwen's sour tone, picking up the speed as well.

 _You can try to keep up,_ thought the Goth, and, much like she hoped for, Cody was unable to maintain the same pace as his two teammates, slowly being left behind.

Harold was another walker, one who knew better than to push the limitations of his body, a body that, even in the best of its days, was not a particularly strong one, result of a unfortunate number of health conditions that hindered what could have otherwise been an example of a potent person. Being the most accomplished member of the Possum Scouts, having shown a great deal of skill in ice skating, as well as having enough interest in martial arts of any kind to be a practitioner, and all of that taking into consideration all the health problems he's had to deal with all his life. So, he could complete the race, even if he would have to do so by walking, he thought with the same resilience he had always had when putting his mind into whatever he wanted to achieve. Even it if was not the most effective way to win the challenge, it will have to do, and the Dork thought it may very well be enough to contribute to his team victory, given that all the competitors behind him were Gophers, none of which seemed they were doing any better.

Noah, much like Harold, didn't have a strong constitution, so he decided to walk as well... not like he would have of chose to run otherwise, because that would require a drive that he didn't have, not like he cared about that sort of thing to begin with.

LeShawna, much like Sadie, was not in a good shape to do well in the challenge, even if she was not outright fat. She tried to run at first, only for her to need to take a break shortly after. It took her considerable amount of time to regain her energy, enough to lose all the good distance she could have had. After that, she decided to joggle, managing to keep a good pace and distance before having to halt once again. She rested on a tree nearby as she struggled to breathe steadily.

" _I_ don't run" Heather confessed in the Outhouse " _And_ I definitely don't run in High Heel Wedges."

After exiting the Outdoors House, did Heather begin the race, by walking in a less than speedy pace. Despite that, it didn't take long for her to catch up with the second slowest camper. Crawling on the dirt and drinking water from a puddle, Owen was having the hardest time of them all to complete the challenge.

"Can't... catch... breath... Must... have... condition..." He said between pants and taking tips of water from the puddle.

"Yeah, it's called 'Overeating'" Heather said, not one bit concerned about the fact that Owen's hands and knees were unable to hold his weight anymore, making collapse on top of the puddle " Look into it."

"Pick it up, people!" She heard Chris's voice amplified by the mega horn, as he was driving by in a motor scooter "You are not back by dinner time, you don't eat!" He taunted them.

"Ugh" Heather growled "I hate him so much."

She then decided to walk again. And, because it was much easier than simply walking besides him, Heather stepped over the still down Owen. He might as well stay down as far as she was concerned, because, in the event her team lost the challenge, he will be the one to have the target on his back, him being the dead last on the race.

* * *

"Yeah! I made it!" Ethan celebrated right after making it into the main Lodge.

Eva arrived just three seconds after him, and two seconds after came Izzy. "Wooo!" The red-head cheered "That was a good race, I don't remember the last time someone was able to keep up with me when it came to run, let alone surpass me! You guys are so much fun!" She placed a hand in each athlete's shoulder, who were now panting. Izzy was panting as well, but besides that, there was no indication that she was as tired as either one of them "Do you wanna run again?"

Ethan managed to smile at her, while all Eva did was stare at both her competitors. She was a bit sullen at the fact that she hasn't won the race, but despite her anger problems, Eva had good sportsmanship, so she still was able to recognize that Ethan has bested her fair and square, and Izzy could have as well, had she not decided to accelerate once she saw the Main Lodge in the near distance. This, Eva concluded, will only serve as a motivator to do better next time.

"That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea" though he was still panting, Ethan found the idea appealing, but just because his mind was up for the challenge didn't mean that his body was "But I think we should eat our breakfast first" he then looked at the window that connected the lodge with the kitchen in the other side of the wall, only to see there was nothing to be shown in the displayer "Hey, what gives?" The Male Blue Jock protested "Where is the food?"

As if on cue, Chris entered the main Lodge as well, and a surprise expression quickly appeared on his face "Wow, three of you are already here? That's impressive" It really was. As athletic as both Ethan and Eva were, and Izzy too, apparently, he didn't expect them to finish the race well before noon, especially in the conditions he put them in. _Guess that works for me just fine. It gives me the excuse to be a little tougher on them._

"That was nothing!" The redhead exclaimed "We are gonna go for our second round! Right guys?" Izzy declared more than asked.

" _After_ we eat our breakfast" Eva stated. Hey, she _was_ up for the challenge, but just like Ethan, she knew better than to push her body in unhealthy manners, "We also need to wait to digest the food, I don't feel like throwing up."

Chris intervened "You can only eat breakfast after the race is done."

"It is done" Ethan replied, he then pointed at himself with both thumbs, smiling as ever "This one goes for the Screaming Gophers." He and Izzy high-fived.

"I'm afraid that's not the case, Ethan" Chris informed him " After all, I never said the first place decided which team wins."

"So, the team with all of its member here first will win the challenge?" Eva stated more than she asked, thinking that most likely the case.

"They will win the race, yeah" Chris nodded his head "Then, and only then, will you guys eat your breakfast."

As if on cue, Ethan's stomach started to growl "Ufff" he said as he put a hand on his abdomen.

"Make yourself comfortable, it will be a long wait" Chris said as he exited the lodge, a teasing tone clear as day was present on his voice.

"We have to wait now?" Izzy complained "Bummer!"

"I just hope our teammates can finish the race quickly" Ethan said as he went to sit down in his team's table.

"I'm not so sure about that" Eva said to herself, thinking that her team would not only be able to complete the challenge, but win it. It was only a matter of time.

Her hopes for the victory only grew when Bridgette and Geoff entered the building, heavily panting, and the Female Bully could see through the open door how DJ was approaching quickly.

* * *

Noon has long since passed and almost all of the campers were sitting around in the Main Lodge, waiting for the final four racers to arrive. LeShawna, Noah and Owen for the Screaming Gophers, and Harold for the Killer Bass.

Courtney was walking back and forth around the lodge, being the one with the least amount of patience of the group. Victory was so close for her team, which was something they desperately needed after losing the previous challenge and starting the competition with two loses in a row was something that didn't sit well with her. It all depended on Harold, which only made Courtney more anxious, giving her lack of faith in her least than athletically fit teammate. While it was true that Harold could realistically outrun either of the Screaming Gophers yet to arrive, it was not a safe bet.

After what seemed the longest time for the tired teens, LeShawna entered the building, and her legs suddenly gave in, having troubles to breath properly. Noah then walked in, looking particularly tired, despite not having dashed not even once in the whole race. The Type A was getting nervous, if Harold didn't arrive soon and Owen walks through that door before him, her team will lose, again. If there was any consolation, it will be rather easy to determinate who was going to be eliminated that night.

Just as Courtney was done preparing the rant she was going to give Harold for his failure to complete the challenge, the Dork came through the door of the Main Lodge and saying that he was wore out would be a huge understatement.

"About time you showed up!" Courtney exclaimed, not paying any attention to the fact that Harold was breathing heavily, a hand placed on his chest, where his heart should be.

"I think I'm having Heart Palpitations" he managed to say, putting his other hand on his chest. That was all Isaac needed to hear before walking up to his teammate.

As the atypical nerd began to check for Harold's condition, Owen finally arrived, crawling through the floor, unable to get back on his feet, panting with his tongue hanging from his mouth. Not that Heather noticed or cared.

"What took you so long?!" She demanded "We just lost the challenge because of you!"

If Owen wasn't as exhausted as he was, he would have had the decency to apologize to his team, hoping they would understand his situation. They would have, Heather being the only exception, but as sympathetic as they may be, it didn't change the fact that he was the reason they just lost.

"Wow, hold your horses, guys" Chris said before Heather could continue with her rant "That wasn't the challenge"

"What?" Courtney exclaimed "What do you mean that wasn't the challenge?"

But rather than answering her question directly, the host went to the serving counter, covered by a curtain "Who is hungry?" he dramatically asked before dramatically pulling the curtains over, dramatically revealing the food in all of its glory, the banquet that the host was offering the teenagers seemed like a godsend in comparison with all the gruesome slop the Chef called 'food' they were fed in this pathetic excuse of a summer camp.

The race was soon forgotten, and the camper started to eat like there was no tomorrow.

They took a dish.

Then a second dish.

Then a third one.

And finally, a fourth plate full of food.

There was no way they would anything to waste, but even then they could only take so much, even when taking into consideration how tired and hungry they were, as well as the fact that teenagers were infamous for their appetite in any case, Owen being the only one who could go for more, with Isaac and Ethan proving to be worthy opponents as far as eating was concerned.

They were all groaning, holding their more than full stomachs. They couldn't be more tired than they already were. At least, that's what they thought, for Chris was more than happy to prove them wrong.

Hopping on top of a table, Chris called for everybody's attention, with the help of his trusty Mega Horn, of course.

"Ok Campers!" He announced, "Time for Part Two of your challenge!"

"I thought Eating was the second part?" Owen questioned; his face had leftovers of food all over it.

"What more do you want from us?" Gwen practically pleaded.

"Weird Goth Girl is right" Heather continued, completely ignoring the glare Gwen was giving her "Haven't we gone through enough?"

"Let me think that for a second" Chris paused for exactly a second "No!" Not like there was much to think for him "It's time for the Awake-A-Thon!"

"The What-A-Thon?" The Blond Giant asked incredulously.

"Don't Worry!" Chris hopped off the table "This is an easy one!" He kept on talking through the Mega Horn, making Owen wince "The team with the last camper standing wins!"

"Let me get this straight" Suzanne spoke slowly "You woke us up early to make us do 20km race, and then trick us into cram ourselves with all that food, just so it will be hard for us to stay awake?" She didn't know whether she was stating the obvious or asking a question out of incredulity.

"That's right, Suzanne!" The host happily replied.

"You are a clever one, Mister McLean" Suzanne admitted, albeit very reluctantly.

"I know, but enough about that. Move! Move! Move!" He commanded them to exit the building, guiding them to the Campfire Pit.

"So," Trent asked Gwen "How long until everyone is out cold?"

"About an hour, give or take" she said with certainty, until she saw Owen passing them by with as much enthusiasm as an actual zombie "Maybe less."

* * *

 _Total Drama **I** saac **S** uzanne **L** illian **E** than_

* * *

The sun had settled down, the moon raised, bringing the night to the island. The sun then rose back to its rightful place in the sky. The second dawn was witnessed by all the campers, having survived the first twelve hours of the challenge.

"Woohoo!" Owen cheered, the only one with enough energy to do anything besides sitting down and holding his chin with his hands "Damn! awake for twelve hours, I can do that in my sleep!" he throw a fist to the air "Woohoo!" he suddenly stopped after, almost frozen on the spot, and as spontaneously as it came, all the energy left abandoned his body, collapsing into the ground as the first gopher and camper to go down.

After him, things didn't take long in going downhill.

Noah didn't last much longer, as reading a book wasn't the most recommended thing when being so tired, even when in normal circumstances it would've been stimulating to his brain.

LeShawna was already tired as she was, so to say she wasn't going to be one of the best players for this fight was understatement.

The Bass got their first lost in Bridgette, the surfer being more tired from the race than she was willing to admit, the only consolation being that her head was resting on Geoff' shoulder, much to his delight.

The sun was glomming over the campers, being at its hottest at noon, tiring the campers even faster, but it was not having anything to focus on the biggest obstacle the campers were facing, so finding something to keep them awake without drowsing them out was going to be important. Trent and Gwen decided that talking to each other would do the trick, as it would also help them to get to know each other. Katie and Sadie would do the same, picking up from where they left yesterday continuing the same conversation they have always had since they met each other. The other campers were finding their own methods.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Heather heard Lillian asking Lindsay as she saw... whatever it was that was unfolding before her.

Lindsay, despite being tired, managed to do a perfect handstand in the middle of the Campfire Pit, for reasons she was about to explain "Trying to get the blood... to rush to my head..." Talking while being upside down wasn't very easy (or maybe she was downside up? She was never able to tell which way was up when doing a handstand) especially when, once again, being as tired as she was, but she thought the results were worth the effort "I think it's working!" She happily proclaimed.

"Ok... Why?" She asked slowly.

"I... Just told you?" Lindsay said, confused.

"No−I mean, why are you trying to get the blood up your head? Or is it down your head...?" Lillian shook her head, looking back at the blonde "Anyway, so, you are trying to get the blood to your head because...?"

"I think it will help me stay awake" Lindsay smiled.

"Does that really help?" Lilly asked, a little surprised.

"Totally!" The blonde replied "I think... Maybe... I don't know" Lindsay admitted "I just thought of it."

"Oh... well... Hopefully it will work out."

"Thanks, Lizzy!"

"Ah, it's Lilly?"

"Right, sorry" Lindsay made a small shift in her position, and Lillian wondered just how thigh Lindsay's skirt was since it hasn't fell, even as she moved "Anyway, do you wanna try it too?"

"Me?" Lillian was taken aback "Well... I mean... Yeah!" She said enthusiastically, maybe a little too enthusiastically.

Heather saw all she needed "Lindsay? Lillian?" She called the girls "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure" Lindsay replied.

After guiding the girls to a far enough distance, Heather began to speak "So, as you guys can tell, we were pretty much threw off our base the moment we arrive to the island, with us being told this was some talent contents, when it was all an elimination game."

"I know, right?" Lindsay exclaimed "And this place doesn't look like a Five-Stars resort, like, at all. Did they get the places confused or what?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"Right" was all the Queen Bee said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes "Anyway, because none of us have expected this, nobody has made any move yet, and it is unlikely they are going to start for a while, so now is the perfect opportunity for us to make our move" she explained.

"Us?" Lillian raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, Lilly. Us" Heather smiled in a way that was meant to be seen as friendly "You see, I'm an avid watcher of this kind of games, so I know for a fact that there is safety in numbers. I've been thinking a lot, and I've decided I want you guys to join me in an alliance" Heather took a moment to admire the surprised expression of both girls "If we play our cards correctly, we will be able to make it to the Final Three."

"Oh my gosh! That sounds totally awesome" Lindsay cheered, more than happy with the prospect "Isn't that right, Leela?"

"I m-mean... Yeah" Lillian, predictably, hesitated "It sounds kind of like a very big deal... but..." she looked at Heather with uncertainty "Why would you want me to be in an alliance with you?"

"Because," Heather began with a smile "I see potential in you−both of you− it may not look like it now, but you definitely have what it takes to make it far in the competition, you already befriended LeShawna, Beth and now Lindsay" The blonde nodded at the brunette with a smile "I could tell you were really scared on the cliff challenge, but you jumped anyway, proving how brave you really are *and* how willing you are to be a team player. Why would I not want you in an alliance with me?"

"You… you really mean that?" the Wallflower asked hopefully.

"I do" Heather reassured her "So, do we have an alliance?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Both girls nodded eagerly.

"Speaking of Alliances" Lindsay began, before turning her gaze to a certain jock in her team "You know who I think is really cute?" Ethan was having a placid conversation with Beth, the farm nerd looking completely eager to listen to what the jock was seeing, as well as sharing whatever she wanted to say about her life back home.

This gave Heather pause.

Ethan has showed the potential to be a force to be reckon with in the small amount of time he has been on the island. From a energic introduction to catching Lindsay's eye, to helping Beth participate on the first challenge, earning her attention as well and just having won the race yesterday (even if it didn't amount to much in the end) and overall looking like a very friendly guy, Ethan have both a good public perception and feats to back it up. Having him on her side rather than against seemed obvious to Heather, the only possible downside being the possibility of Lindsay's puppy crush on him getting in the way of following Heather's orders.

"I think you may be onto something, Lindsay" Heather say noncommittally, not missing how her smile grew "However, _if_ we ask him to join our alliance, it will have to be me and it will have to be in the right moment, i.e., not now. For now, though, let's just continue with the challenge, lest we draw unnecessary attention to ourselves. And remember girls, not a single word about this to anyone."

* * *

The colors of twilight were washing the island over again, and as time passed, more campers met their limits.

Harold was willing to power through the challenge, as he always was, but his body was not.

Despite having a history of pulling all-nighters for the sake of his video games, the lack of stimulation meant that Cody wasn't going to last.

It wasn't so much of a surprise that both Katie and Sadie would fall asleep together. But what unnerved most people was the fact that, after Katie snored air in, Sadie snored it out, and as soon as she snored air in, Katie let it out. It any other circumstances, it would have been a funny coincidence, but considering it was the inseparable best friends, it was bizarre to say the least.

DJ was using his hand to support his chin as he was struggling to keep his head from nodding, but that still wasn't preventing his eyes from closing constantly. They opened wide as much as they could when he felt extra weight on the left side of his body. Looking at his side, he saw Suzanne, the restlessness finally overpowering her. Was she always sitting down next to him? Was he so tired he didn't notice? Was she so tired she didn't decide to start a conversation? Regardless, there she was, already sleeping soundly, not that it bothered him.

Courtney and Justin each tried… unorthodox methods. She figured that if she kept moving, she would remain awake until she could outlast as many people as possible, which worked at the start, but ultimately made her fall asleep before half the other contestant. Justin demonstrated cunning as well as artistic skills, by painting eyes on eyelids to trick everybody into thinking he was awake, but even more impressive than that was the fact that he somehow managed to stay standing despite being asleep for who knows how long. At last, he was found out. In retrospective he should've been glad that Chris didn't do anything further to penalize him after kicking him out of the challenge.

Lillian couldn't fight the sleep anymore, deciding the best she could do was laying down and let herself submerge on the slumber than falling to the ground.

She was joined by Lindsay not soon after.

As a force of habit, Geoff pulled his hat down his face before he knew what he was doing, the tiredness of the challenge and the comfort of sleeping next to Bridgette were too much for him to handle.

DJ's head was still being supported by his hand when he fell asleep, Suzanne still resting on his shoulder.

Even when talking to Ethan to keep herself awake, Beth eventually fell too.

It seemed impossible, but even Izzy ran out of energy before the third dawn arrived.

"I'm going to the bathroom" Eva said, though nobody was really paying her any mind, taking off her headphones and putting her MP3 player on her pocked. She was usually very careful when it came to her belongings, but the restlessness must have taken a toll to her head, as her MP3 was barely inside her pocket, and it only took a couple of steps before it fell from it.

Heather saw all of this unfold.

Trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, the queen bee reached for the device and took it before anyone could see what she was doing.

When Eva came back, she wanted to hear her music as loud as she could in order to keep herself awake, but before she could even reach her pocket, she laying on the ground like a log.

Heather followed suit.

Trent wanted to keep talking to Gwen, but his body gave in, too.

Duncan asked to go to the bathroom, but when he failed to return, a cameraman went to check with him, only to find him sitting on the toiled with his pants down.

Gwen, without Trent to keep her occupied, soon collapsed on the ground.

Isaac found himself nodding one too many times. To say that he managed to keep himself awake by entertaining himself with his own thoughts would be something most would say is impressive, even if to Isaac himself is pretty common for him. But even the strength of his mind would succumb to the need for sleep.

Now it all was down to Ethan against Ezekiel.

Most campers have awoken from their rather uncomfortable sleeping positions and were granted permission by the host to either take a bath, eat something, and/or go to the cabins to properly rest. Chris figured he might as well stay on the campgrounds, as it shouldn't take long before either of the representatives of the team give up.

"Ain't this a piece of cake?" the homeschooled farmer turned to see the bear of Vancouver staring at him with a tired smile.

Ezekiel looked at him for brief seconds, the restlessness slowing his thought process down. He knew that Ethan was friendly person all around, which helped put Ezekiel at ease, but he also was a member of the other team and, given their current circumstances, his direct opponent. He thought that maybe all Ethan wanted was trying to keep himself awake and was using him as a mean to do so. Ezekiel, admittedly, also thought that maybe he was making it sound worst than it was, but there was no way for him to know it those were Ethan's intentions or if he just genuinely wanted to have a chat with him. Either way, it didn't change the fact that a conversation would benefit Ezekiel just as well.

"I wouldn't know about that" he replied, "A rough day on my farm doesn't left me as tired as I am now, eh."

"I hear ya. One would think that putting two all-nighters in a row would be easier than jumping off a cliff" he chuckled "One would be wrong."

Ezekiel nodded "Though it doesn't seem to affect you much" he hoped that the tiredness in his voice disguised his genuine worry.

"Yeah, no, this challenge? It's kind of killing me" he said with a nonchalant smile. He was sitting on the ground, leaning backwards with only his arms for support "I have no idea when I'm gonna fall."

"Could've fooled me, eh."

"I'm still trying to win, of course, doesn't matter that I'm tired as hell."

"Language."

Ethan gave him a look, before smiling again "Sorry."

"That aside, winning a 20km race…" he yawned "…would do that to you."

"I'd say that eating all that food probably tired me out more."

"Chris really tricked us, eh?"

"That he did…" he yawned.

"Still, after winning a race and eating more foot than half of us put together, the fact that you still awake is a victory in and of itself." And Ezekiel was supposed to somehow compete against him?

"None of that will matter if I don't win the challenge. If anything, those things may be the reason I don't win this for the Gophers" he abruptly fell to his back.

"Are you ok, eh?" Ezekiel got as fast as his tired legs allowed him to Ethan, whose eyes still were open.

"Yeah… yeah just… a bit tired…" he waved his hand aimlessly.

"You think you can keep going?"

Ethan looked at him again, before smiling again "You are asking that to the guy that is competing against you?"

Ezekiel faltered "Eh… I guess I am."

The brunette giant chuckled again "You are alright…" before his eyes finally gave in.

"The winners!" Chris said as he took Ezekiel's hand and rose it "The Killer Bass!"

"Oh goody!" Ezekiel cheered "Does that mean I can finally sleep?"

"Yep!" Chris nodded.

"Good, eh" was all he said before he collapsed to the ground.

* * *

It was in equal parts impressive and terrifying how a single person could create such mayhem.

Eva screeched " _Where_ is my MP3 player?!" she asked as she threw things through the window of the Bass Cabin, almost hitting her fellow teammates if it wasn't for the fact that Isaac acted as a wall to protect them, catching most of the objects, regardless of size and weight "One of you must have stolen it! I need my music!" she pointed an accusatory finger at them "No one is going anywhere until I get my MP3 player back!" she then purposely threw a book at them that almost hit Harold, Isaac catching it when it was centimeters away from his face.

"Ok," Courtney began, her voice barely above a whisper "Whoever took it better give it up now, before she destroys the whole camp."

"Hey guys!" They turned to see Heather approaching, she looked around with a smile on her face "Wow, this place is a real mess."

"Someone stole Eva's MP3 player" Courtney told her.

"You don't mean this, do you?" she pulled the device from her pockets "I was wondering who it belonged to."

"Where did you find that?" Suzanne asked her.

"I found it by the campfire pit. She must have drop it."

Suzanne looked at her critically "Did you, really?"

"Oh Thank you!" Eva said, after running from the cabin upon hearing what Heather said "Thank you! Thank you!"

"Sure thing!" Heather said with a sweet smile before turning to leave, Suzanne's eye never leaving her.

"So…" Eva began, her rage having subdued and instead being replaced by nervousness "Sorry about that little… misunderstanding."

"'Misunderstanding'?" Suzanne parroted "You call this," she pointed at the mess the female bully made "A little misunderstanding?"

"I m-mean, yeah. Guess no one stole it after all…"

"You guess?"

"Ok… Maybe I overreacted a little…"

"You think?"

Eva, normally headstrong and unyielding, found herself almost taking a step back "L-look… I'm sorry I—"

"No Eva, you shouldn't be sorry" Suzanne interrupted her, completely unafraid of the temperamental Athlete as she voiced her opinion "What you should be is grateful, grateful about the fact that Ezekiel won the challenge for us, because had that not been the case, you would be out of this island in the blink of an eye" after that, she turned to leave, not in the mood to deal with any more crap than necessary.

* * *

The Screaming Gophers greeted the Elimination Ceremony with a dreadful moon, even more so than the Bass did the previous one, as the tiredness and the anticipation made them lose what little energy they had left, as well as feeling every second of it being drained from their bodies.

It really wasn't the best way to face their first elimination, but then again, is there a good way to face it?

"Screaming Gophers" Chris began, offering the green team the same speech he gave the Killer Bass the previous elimination ceremony "At camp, marshmallows represent a tasty treat that you enjoy roasting by the fire. At this camp, Marshmallows represent life. You all cast your votes and made your decision. There are only twelve marshmallows on this plate. When I call your name, come up and claim your marshmallow. The camper who does not receive a marshmallow tonight, must immediately return to the Dock of Shame, to catch the Boat of losers. That means you are out of the contest and you can't come back. _Ever_ "

Much like their rivals in the previous ceremony, the Gophers looked nervous at what was to come.

"Ethan" the Blue Bear almost jumped at hearing his name "Come get your marshmallow" After visibly relaxing, Ethan went to the host to claim his sweet treat. He then positioned himself behind the host, as he was instructed to.

"Gwen" The host called for the Goth, who was happy to take her token of immunity.

One by one, The Host called for the camp that were secured a marshmallow "Trent."

"Heather."

"Lindsay."

"Lillian."

"Justin."

"Izzy."

"Beth."

"Cody."

"Noah."

After the Bookworm took the second to last marshmallow remaining, LeShawna and Owen looked at each other before turning to see the now lone sweet candy in the silver plate. The hunger for the marshmallow was clearly present in the eyes of both campers.

"So, we lost our first challenge. That is very unfortunate, but I guess it was going to happen sooner or later" Heather, much like Suzanne the previous ceremony, was the one selected to have her confessional aired in the Elimination ceremony, in which she explained why she voted the way she did "Hopefully, it will take some time before with lose another one. With that little display of rage that Eva staged that I may have or may have not been responsible for, I don't think the Killer Bass will have a very good teamwork" The Queen Bee smiled satisfactorily "For tonight, though, I guess it could have been worst, I think it is pretty obvious who we should all vote for tonight, and fortunately, I don't think they will be missed in the upcoming challenge."

"The last marshmallow of the night goes to..." Chris began.

And after milking the tension for all of it worth, taking immense pleasure in seeing the growingly anxious expression of both campers, did he call for the last name.

"LeShawna."

Heather mockingly waved her hand at the camera "Bye-bye, Owen. This place will surely smell a lot better without you in it."

The Sister with 'Tude let go of an immense sigh of relieve, before going to the host to claim her marshmallow, which now looked a lot tastier than it did previously.

Owen was dejected "Aww, man. And I thought I was gonna do great in here" he lamented "This was supposed to be the best summer ever!"

Ethan walked to place a hand in the shoulder of his fellow giant "I know is rough, buddy, but that's just how games works; sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, all that is left for you to do is use the experience in the future."

"I guess you're right" despite agreeing with the embodiment of teenage physical fitness, the embodiment of teenage physical indulgence still looked sad "It's just that, I really didn't get to experience as much as I wanted to, specially one of those marshmallow, they look so delicious" he said with yearning in his voice and longing in his eyes, looking directly at the white treat in Ethan's hand.

"Here you go, buddy" he offered his marshmallow to the big blonde boy with a smile.

"Really?" Owen smiled, this expression being much more natural in his face than the uncharacteristic frown he was wearing mere seconds ago "Thanks, pal!" and at a speed that nobody, not even Owen himself, thought him capable of having, the giant blond snapped the marshmallow off Ethan's hands and ate it without so much as even tasting it.

But his joy, much like the sweet white treat, was short lived "Owen" Chris called again "The team has spoken, the Boat of Loser awaits. The Dock of Shame is that way."

"Oh... right" Owen rose from his seat, sighing heavily "Bye guys, it was nice knowing you, even if it wasn't by much. I hope you have fun in the island, at least more than I had" he looked down.

"Will do, buddy" Ethan patted Owen in the back in a last effort to comfort him.

Owen made his way to the dock, saying his goodbyes to the rest of his team members, Lindsay going as far as giving him a hug. He may have not the most efficient member of the team, but he really did live up to his image of a radiant sun, even if only for the briefest of time, so they liked him for the most part. Walking through the dock of Shame, the usually upbeat mountain of a man arrived at the Boat of Loser and got on with a downcast expression. Before long, the Camp Wawanakwa was another camper down.

"The rest of you," The host addressed the remaining Screaming Gophers "enjoy your marshmallow, the ones that have one, that is" Chris chuckled and Ethan rolled his eyes.

He then decided to sit down once again, waiting for his teammates to eat their delicious tokens of immunity.

* * *

 **A/N:** I think I should start with an apology for the year wait you had to endure. I'm glad the chapter is finally out, and I hope you had fun reading it so it will make up for the long wait, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm sorry. All that is left for me to do is try to publish the next chapter a faster. There is nothing for me to say other than real life happened. Worry not, nothing bad happened, but doesn't change the fact that I have things to deal with that took more time to deal with than I expected, from my parents moving in with me to having to move to getting a new job to having to move to another apartment to be closer to said job... things like that. The fact that all of this happened just when I begun with this project... it discouraged me, to be frank with you.

I'm sorry and I hope things get a little less messy, which is not a strong possibility considering the situation we are all in. The only thing, and I mean the only thing that came out of this mess is the fact that I have more free time now, which, ironically enough, I hope doesn't last long.

So, The Big Sleep. Let me tell ya, at the beginning, I really had a harder time than I though I would have when writing this chapter, but once I started having a better flow, everything else came rather easily. There was nothing to describe, so this chapter was going to be heavy on dialogue and establishing the relationships for all the episodes to come, so I hope you enjoyed what was mostly a setup for future events. One thing I definitely liked about this chapter is that it was the perfect opportunity for my to deviate a little more from the structure of the original episode.

 **25th. Owen:** The winner of the canon became the second fodder of this storyline. I eliminated Owen for no other reason that it made sense given the context of the original episode. Yes, I realize that this is more or less how his elimination on The legend of TDI went, but I think I framed just differently enough to be just a coincidence. Having said that, I do not hate him... in fact I like him quite a lot, so I feel you if you thought he was going to make it far into the game. It's not going to be the last thing you see from him, you just have to wait... for a very long time.

Please leave a review to tell me what you thought of this chapter as well as if you found any grammar error and the such. Lillian took the spotlight here, how do you think this will affect her stay on the island now that she took Beth's place in Heather's alliance? What will be the outcome of the dodgebrawl challenge now that the Bass have Eva while the Gophers don't have Owen?

Until next time, see ya!


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